Congress candidates grappling with fund crunch, campaign hit hard

•  Those with meager resources are not receiving any support on this front from the party
  
•  Rumours that Karnataka was supporting is also a false narrative

Hyderabad: Congress struggles with funds flow as the campaign slowly draws to a close. Owing to tight control of their money by candidates and lack of proper support from the party is said to be impacting the campaign on the ground.

According to the party sources, when the BRS is putting all effort with all its resources the Congress candidates are lagging when it comes to spending on campaign. Candidates with a sound background are spending at least Rs 10 crore in these Assembly polls, but those with meager resources are afraid of spending and neither are they receiving support in this front from the party.

“There is no support from the party whatsoever when it comes to funds. Candidates have to spend on their own. The rumours that neighbouring Karnataka was supporting is also a false narrative,” said a former AICC member.

Of late the election management in Telangana by the Congress has raised interest amongst the political circles and is being compared with the way it was handled in Karnataka. Party aspirants who lost the opportunity to other candidates alleged that those with sound financial backgrounds were finalised so that they would be able to spend money. “This is an open secret that those with good backgrounds were preferred against the devoted party men. Raising the money for the campaign should have been the responsibility of top State leaders, but it did not happen this time,” the leader added.

The campaign in the State which should have been in the hands of local leadership has slowly shifted in the hands of the AICC leaders. It is said that once the candidates were finalised based on the suggestions provided by the local leadership and the screening committee, the AICC leaders got alerted about preferences. The AICC later engaged the leaders from Karnataka and Maharashtra, besides top star campaigner Rahul Gandhi to keep the ‘party’s wave’ afloat.

Even the social media is being handled by those from other States. K C Venu Gopal who recently expressed anguish also reportedly took to task the screening committee. Now he is personally reviewing the situation on the ground by visiting and meeting candidates across the State. “He also spoke to me to take first-hand information of the situation in the district,” said a leader engaged in a campaign in Mahbubnagar.