Rs 16 cr in a month: Cong's crowdfunding yet to pick up pace

New Delhi: Over a month has gone by but the Congress' online crowdfunding is yet to pick up pace, with the party managing just Rs 16 crore so far from around three lakh donors, triggering concerns within party ranks.

Along with the online drive, there were plans to start the door-to-door donation drive targeting at least ten houses in every booth for contributions of at least Rs 138 from December 28 last year across the country, but sources said it has not been initiated with any seriousness.

The party's plans to collect funds through merchandising where supporters could buy T-shirts signed by leaders like Rahul Gandhi, customised caps, and other items also has not been initiated yet.

The party wanted its state-level office bearers, elected representatives, district and state presidents, and AICC office bearers to contribute at least Rs 1,380 each.

An initiative helmed by the newly appointed Treasurer Ajay Maken, several measures have been taken to spruce up the donation drive though the second phase of house to house donation collection has not been initiated in an earnest way.

On Tuesday, Maken tweeted about an initiative by General Secretary Sachin Pilot who invited 138 party leaders to his residence in Jaipur and "inspired" them to donate Rs 1.38 lakh to the party. According to Maken, this has led the Rajasthan unit to be among the top of a list of donors who contributed more than Rs one lakh.

“Such a campaign started for the first time has also taught us new things. We have also done many new experiments, so that politics can be done in a clean way. I would like to mention one such new successful experiment. On January 12, Sachin Pilot invited 138 Congress leaders to his residence and inspired them all to donate an amount of Rs 1.38 lakh for this campaign. Hence, Rajasthan reached the top among donors above 1 lakh and also in total amount,” he said.

As per data provided by Maken, 181 people from Rajasthan donated more than Rs one lakh while Haryana (73), Punjab (38), Maharashtra (31) and Bihar (28). Eleven people from Karnataka also donated more than Rs one lakh. "I am especially grateful to all those who came forward from Rajasthan and made their invaluable contribution. And also thank Ajay Maken for his encouragement," Pilot responded.

Earlier, around 5,000 All India Professional Congress members collectively contributed Rs one crore to the drive. The slow pace of donation drive has found mention in the recent Congress Working Committee meeting with Rahul Gandhi himself raising concerns, sources had said.

Earlier, Congress said its donation website encountered 20,400 cyber attacks attempting to steal data or slow the site down in the first two days of the launch of its donation drive.