HYDERABAD: The Congress ticket aspirants for the upcoming Assembly elections are annoyed over the party inquiring into their financial status. A key leader of the party has recently called the aspirants for an interview where he sought to know if they have enough resources to fight the elections.
The aspirants are unhappy over this new trend in the party as earlier no such interviews took place to know if the potential candidates had enough money to win the elections. They wondered how come money has become a criterion for allotting party tickets.
They wanted to know what would be the sanctity of the surveys that the party conducts to know the winnability quotient of the aspirants for issuing tickets as announced by senior leader Rahul Gandhi. A leader from the erstwhile Rangareddy district, who attended an interview, reportedly told the interviewer that he can spend huge amounts, but requested him not to entertain leaders who joined the party a few months ago who are derisively called “parachute” candidates.
‘A precedent not in party’s interests’
Another leader from the erstwhile Nalgonda district also met the key leader and informed him that there was no need for such discussion. He said it was like setting a new precedent which would not be in the interests of the party. They wonder what would the party do if the survey reports come in favour of a person who does not have enough resources to fight the elections.
An aspirant who faced the situation visited Delhi and complained against the said leader. One aspirant from the erstwhile Adilabad district met the key leader and told him that the determining factor for allotting tickets should not be money, but his popularity in the constituency. The inquiries into the financial background of the aspirants were creating suspicion within the party.
During a discussion that took place at the Gandhi Bhavan recently, the key leader asked several prominent personalities how much money they could spend if the party gives them the ticket. The approach was very unpalatable as it requires the aspirants to reveal the details of how much money they had.
In a recent meeting at a prominent leader’s residence, two former ministers raised the issue and said that it was not the right approach. They said that if the surveys came in their favour, the party should allot tickets to them. They said that they were financially sound to fund their own election, but the requirement to reveal their financial status before some leaders of the party were asking for too much.
Creating suspicion within the party
A ticket aspirant from erstwhile Adilabad district told the key Congress leader, who has been interviewing the potential candidates, that the determining factor for allotting tickets should not be money, but his popularity in the constituency. The inquiries into the financial background of the aspirants were creating suspicion within the party.