Hyderabad: Congress stares at cash crunch in civic polls

Hyderabad: The Congress MPs, MLAs and contested candidates of the Assembly and Parliament elections would be facing financial burden in the municipal elections as money is going to play a key role.

The MPs, who have about five to six municipalities in their respective constituencies, would have to bear more financial burden as they have high stakes. The MLAs and the contested candidates would also have to spend crores towards expenditure in their respective constituencies.

The municipal elections would be a test to their political career. According to sources, most of the Congress candidates for the municipal wards do not have enough money.

Party leaders have been alleging that the Congress leaders in the municipalities, who have financial resources have been lured by the ruling TRS party and the Grand Old Party is facing dearth of financially strong candidates.

So, the MPs, MLAs and contested candidates have to field relatively weak candidates in the fray and provide financial resources to them to fight in the elections. Two Congress MPs have already thrown their weight behind the candidates. Party leaders said that each candidate of the ward have to spend Rs 5 lakh in the form of distribution to the voters to stay in the contest and incur Rs one lakh as an expenditure every day till the end of the polling. The total expenditure of each candidate would be about Rs 15 lakh per ward.

They made it clear that unless Rs 10 lakh is spent on each ward, it would not be possible for the Congress to face the ruling party in the municipal elections. Most of the municipalities have about 20 wards on an average and the amount to be spent by each party may reach up to Rs 3 crore per each municipality.

Congress leaders said that candidates having money power have been opting for the candidature of the ruling party as they could get back money if they win the elections.

However, the MLAs, MPs and contested candidates have been scouting for leaders, who have popularity among the voters to field on behalf of Congress. They are getting ready to fund the candidates and to ensure their victory wherever the party is strong.

The MPs, MLAs and contested candidates are of the view that winning at least one municipality in their constituency would strengthen their position.