HYDERABAD: There’s no better time to be a BJP leader in the state, as cadre have received huge chunks of money, as though they were being rewarded for winning the polls. Each mandal-level party functionary who worked in the recent Assembly elections has received Rs 2 lakh, taking the total expenditure on this to a whopping Rs 10.6 crore.
This amount, given to 531 functionaries and their representatives, was reportedly for “fuel reimbursement”, and most of it went to members of the party’s youth wing, Yuva Morcha.
As per the saffron party’s recently-published election expenditure report, more than 42 crore was spent between October 6 and December 11 last year, during the state Assembly polls. The lions share went to the grassroot level ‘karyakartas’. It may be recalled that the BJP made headlines two days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the state, when the Narayanaguda police seized 8 crore from two party workers. The money, the BJP claimed, was to be paid to party functionaries.
The BJP has further given most candidates a “lump sum” of 10 lakh or 15 lakh, depending on their popularity in an Assembly segment. This amounted to 12.5 crore. Thus, the party gave as much as 23.1 crore to its mandal leaders and contestants, accounting for half its expenditure in the elections.
However, this did not get the BJP to win more than one segment. In fact, it lost four segments it held.
The AIMIM, meanwhile, spent 14.92 lakh and won seven of the eight segments it contested in. The TDP spent 37 lakh and won two Assembly segments.
The rest of the BJP’s expenses went towards print and electronic media publicity, transportation of national-level leaders, and purchase of merchandise.