BJP Runs Short of Funds After Losing Power in MP

Bhopal: The monthly mouthpiece of Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Charaiveti—did not see the light of the day from last two months since the party lost power in the state.

With the fall of the 15-year long government in the state last December, the saffron party has been seeing massive decline in party funding. As a result, the party failed to publish its last two editions in the state.

The last edition of the monthly mouthpiece was published in January, according to the information available on the website.

The 44-page magazine sells at Rs 25 and has 1.5 lakh subscribers across the state. According to official sources, it costs Rs 10 lakh a month to publish the magazine and more than 15 people work in the Pandit Deendayal Vichar Prakashan which publishes the magazine.

“The magazine has dues of around Rs 2 crore to the publisher. When the party failed to repay the due after the fall of government, the publisher denied to publish the next edition. Besides, the party has also not been able to pay salaries of the magazine’s content editors, sub-editors and staff,” said a senior BJP office bearer requesting anonymity.

Also Read: Why BJP Lost Ground in Madhya Pradesh After 15 Years

The Charaiveti magazine was launched in February 1969 to provide Integrated Human Philosophy of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay to the public. This is the first time since its launch that BJP has skipped publishing the magazine two months in a row.

Despite several attempts and office visits, Sanjay Singh Koche, Secretary of Pandit Deendayal Vichar Prakashan which publishes the monthly magazine could not be reached for any comment. BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal distanced himself from the question citing internal party affairs and that he is clueless about the issue.

Sharp Decline in Aajeevan Sahyog Nidhi

After the fall of government, even as the party has been facing a shortage of funds, the party’s MLAs and MPs have turned their back.

Aajeevan Sahyog Nidhi (ASN) is an internal fund-raising initiative of the saffron party in which the party MLAs and MPs have to pay Rs 10,000 a year. Besides, the party fellows and supporters can also contribute to the party funds.

The ASN was launched by former BJP MP Kushabhau Thakre with an aim to run the party while they were in opposition in MP. Later, the scheme was opted by the central leadership. Interestingly, MP was the highest fund raiser in the country under the scheme.

According to the BJP’s state unit data, there are 109 MLAs, 26 MPs, 8 Rajya Sabha MPs and more than 1 crore party workers in the state. However, the party only succeeded to raise around Rs 60 lakh, only 8% of the targeted Rs 8 crore, by March first week.

When contacted, chief of ASN, Krishan Murari Moghe said, "We have targeted to raise Rs 8 crore by March 30, 2019, eyeing the Lok Sabha elections. But there is a dip in funds in comparison to previous years. We have formed district level committees to collect the funds."

When asked about the actual amount the party has received till date, he replied, "The amount is yet to be counted."

The sources claimed that even MLAs and MPs of the party are not paying it citing expenses for the upcoming elections. The party had raised Rs 10 crore and Rs 9 crore in 2018 and 2017, respectively, under the ASN.

Addressing party leaders and office bearers after losing power in the state, BJP National General Secretary Ram Lal had said, “It is the responsibility of the leaders and workers to raise funds to run the party else the party will suffer.”

The lack of funds has also started affecting the functioning of the party. According to a report published by the Free Press on March 10, BJP leaders and workers faced party chief Amit Shah’s wrath over low turnout in the rallies.

Addressing a party workers’ meeting in Sagar, a fuming Shah not only reprimanded party leaders but also asked them to justify reasons behind the flop show. During the meeting with Shah, the party workers and leaders raised the issue of ‘funds crunch’ behind low turnout.

Earlier, Shah had visited Shahdol for a motorcycle rally, which had witnessed a thin attendance. Public meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah in Dhar, Umaria and Sagar, too, witnessed a relatively low turnout than previous occasions. The low public turnout and workers in party programmes has proved to be cause of worry for party leaders.

When the party was in power in the state, it was easy to conduct programmes due to availability of funds and resources for transportation and other expenses. But due to fund crunch, party leaders failed to arrange transportation to ferry people to the venues of the public meetings.