The saffron party has set the target of Rs500 crore which its corporators across Gujarat are to collect through donations from the people.
One would have expected BJP corporators in Ahmedabad to overshoot the funds collection target set for each by their party. But two days before the April 6 deadline, the councillors collectively have achieved just 70% of the 'dhan sangrah' target set for them.
The saffron party has set the target of Rs500 crore which its corporators across Gujarat are to collect through donations from the people during the 'dhan sangrah' drive.
The BJP has asked chairpersons of various AMC sub-committees to collect Rs5 lakh each. Further, each male corporator has been asked to collect Rs2 lakh and each female councilor Rs1 lakh. Each ward-level committee (comprising president, two secretaries and a member of city BJP executive committee) has to contribute Rs3.25 lakh.
"We have achieved around 70% of our target and collected about Rs2 crore of our target of Rs4 crore," said a source. Some corporators have already achieved their targets while others have not been able to collect even 10% of the target set for them.
"The corporators were caught unawares as the Dhan Sangrah programme was announced suddenly by the chief minister. Moreover, the end of the current financial year coupled with the continuing slump has affected the funds collection drive adversely," said an AMC office-bearer. A councillor said that corporators and ward-level leaders may not be able to achieve their targets individually but the party will.
"Is it possible to collect Rs500 crore simply by seeking donations of Rs500 and Rs1000 from common people? The drive may be a means of turning black money into white, as alleged by the opposition," said a BJP corporator.
Yet another BJP councillor said that the party might have learnt a lesson from the I-T raids on Mayawati's men during the recent elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly. "It better to have a corpus for which you have proof that it is not ill-gotten money," the councillor said.
The corporators are not very happy with the party's Dhan Sangrah drive as they do not consider it right practice. A source in the BJP said that senior party leaders advise councillors to focus on providing basic amenities - road, light, water and drainage - and not to indulge in corrupt practices or go out of the way to favour anyone.
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