Ahmedabad: It appears, getting ‘sufficient’ fund from Delhi will be a problem for Congress and AAP in upcoming Gujarat elections. Parties are generally comfortable sending fund to state units only if they find there’s sure return.

In previous two occasions, Gujarat Congress through various news reports and ‘surveys’ had shown possibility of winning the state and therefore the central unit had sent huge fund in order to neutralize the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi within his home-state, so that he can not enter national politics. Modi however continued to win. Sonia Gandhi was someone who used to take decisions in those years. Now there’s Rahul Gandhi. Gujarat Congress recently invited Rahul to Mahesana in Gujarat and filled the ground by employing its entire strength of North Gujarat and Ahmedabad regions in order to make a point that there’s hope for the party in Gujarat. To get good fund from Delhi ahead of elections, such a show of strength was necessary.

Funding-wise, Gujarat Congress has district panchayats handy for contribution. Nationally, Congress has Karnataka and now Punjab too as major contributors. With the performances in recent elections which saw huge expenditure, Congress leadership in Delhi is not likely to spend huge in Gujarat later this year.

Arvind Kejriwal

Aam Admi Party(AAP) which is led by Baniya will spend even less in Gujarat. AAP has suffered major setback in Punjab and Goa where it was hoping to form government. The party which is in power only in Delhi spent huge on propaganda, but lot of spending was contributed by candidates who were in illusion that AAP will form government.

Before the results of Punjab and Goa, AAP had plans to contest all 182 seats across Gujarat. But, on the ground there’s no possibility of winning even a single seat and therefore fund from Dehi will continue to remain an issue! We don’t know what’s the latest status of AAP’s hopes for Gujarat. Arvind Kejriwal’s visit is scheduled to take place on March 26. He is going to hold some kind of rally in Gandhinagar. As usual he would try to showcase his strength by mobilizing his supporters, and photographs of crows would be circulated over social media in typical boasting style of AAP.

But the point is, Gujarat doesn’t offer any hope for AAP as of now, and situation is not likely to improve in terms of seat victory in upcoming assembly polls. One AAP leader I met recently said, ‘as of now, we are told to come out with two-three faces in each assembly seat that are fit to claim candidature. We are not sure about victory on any seat, but we don’t have to lose anything in Gujarat in any case, as we don’t have any seat here.’

BJP leaders on the other hand in Gujarat have become financially so capable that they wouldn’t expect much fund from the state or central unit. BJP is now in power in highest number of states in its history. Then there’s a government in the centre. Most of the urban civic bodies are ruled by BJP in Gujarat. The party wouldn’t mind to spend for Gujarat polls, as there’s sure return for every pie here.

Friends in politics say the most difficult thing after losing any election is payment for election expenditures! At present Akhilesh and Mayavati in UP and Akalis in Punjab must be busy in talking about payments and losses related to the polls within four walls of their palaces.

DeshGujarat