Thiruvananthapuram: Amid reports that the KPCC president M. M. Hassan is expecting to garner Rs 100 crore from his Janamochana Yatra which will kick off on April 7 from Kasaragod, Thiruvananthapuram DCC president Neyyatinkara Sanal has said that it is an "inflated" rate.
The top brass of the KPCC feel that there is no other way before them than to have adequate funds on the lines of the BJP and CPM which are cadre parties, to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections.
Congress Working Committee leader A. K. Antony will flag off Hassan’s 14-day long Janamochana Yatra on April 7. The main agenda of the Yatra is to collect funds for the smooth functioning of the party. A DCC president on condition of anonymity told DC that for the day to day functioning of the KPCC office, Hassan had already taken loans worth several lakhs which he was expecting to repay once the fund drive was completed. Though Hassan’s Yatra will conclude in Thiruvananthapuram on April 25, the leadership is yet to finalise a particular date for the conclusion of the fund drive.
With the Congress losing power at the centre and also in Kerala, the majority of business people have cosied up to the saffron brigade.
Neyyatinkara Sanal told DC that almost 24,000 booth committees across the state had been provided with Rs 50, 000 worth of coupons. “That doesn’t mean that each booth committee would have to collect Rs 50, 000. The target is Rs 25, 000 before each booth committee and if they can collect more, then well and good”, said Neyyatinkara Sanal.
The KPCC and DCC will collect '7500 each. KPCC is expecting Rs 36 crore (Rs 15, 000 multiplied by 24, 000 booth committees) and it is aware that Rs 100 crore is definitely a staggering task. The KPCC has printed coupon books at values of Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 250 and Rs 500. T. N. Prathapan, Thrissur DCC president told DC that it was a herculean task collecting funds from common people at a time when the BJP and LDF governments had been squeezing them with “anti-people friendly policies”.
“We do not want funds from crorepatis who have gone to BJP. A time has come when we have to highlight their anti-people friendly policies where we will be happy to get funds from the common people. People should not only be having a helping nature, but have money too to bring back Congress to power”, said Prathapan.
