LS polls put cash-strapped Congress leaders on edge

​Hyderabad: The Congress candidates who contested in the just-concluded State Assembly elections are apprehensive of the upcoming parliamentary elections as the campaign responsibilities have been entrusted on them. According to sources, the candidates who were in utter distress after losing the Assembly elections are reluctant to take up the responsibilities and most of them are trying to evade the polls by citing one or other reason. The Congress candidates who did not have much funds are not ready to take the risk in  parliament elections and are indicating the leadership that it should shoulder procurement of funds for the polls.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy recently told the Assembly candidates, during a review meeting, that they should take the responsibility of campaigning on behalf of the Parliamentary candidates in their respective Assembly segments. A senior leader of the party said that most of the Congress candidates have spent Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore in the recent Assembly elections and with the defeat they are facing financial crisis.

They informed that they do not have means to recover from the losses in the next five years and could not mobilise funds through borrowing for the Parliament polls. They may tell the Parliamentary Constituencies candidates to make their own arrangements for mobilisation of funds. Party leaders said that as many as Rs 12 crore to Rs 30 crore are required to fight for each Parliamentary constituency. This means that In-charge of each Assembly segment has to bear as much as Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.

According to sources, the TPCC is also not in a position to provide funds to the Congress candidates of Parliamentary constituencies. The TPCC exhausted its financial resources with the recent Assembly polls. Several candidates of the Congress for the Parliamentary polls are not so rich to bear the expenditure of the polls. The leaders who would contest from North Telangana are insufficient in terms of funds. These candidates are looking for financial help from the TPCC or the AICC.

Leaders of Congress said that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidates could get financial help from the party, from the MLAs and from the party leaders, as their party is in power. As soon as the TRS declares candidates its candidates would swing into action.

They said that in the Assembly elections most of the Congress candidates lost due to lack of money. While the TRS candidates have held campaign for about two months, the Congress candidates were unable to hold canvassing even for two weeks.