Is India Inc contributing mightily to BJP campaign? Cong's Ahmed Patel urges probe

Ahmed Patel, senior Congress leader and a confidante of party president Sonia Gandhi, has said that there should be an investigation into the funding of the BJP’s campaign as there seems to be corporate money involved in it. He has said this in an interview to The Economic Times.

“I don’t know what the reasons are. Maybe they think the UPA will do badly, but what is visible is that the BJP is getting a lot of corporate backing,” he told the newspaper.

He also said land deals between the Gujarat government and various corporates have not been appropriately done as farmers were not adequately compensated and they should also be investigated.

“I think the way land has been allotted in Gujarat to industrial groups and other favours have been granted should be a matter of investigation,” he has said. Ironically, he has defended Robert Vadra, Priyanka Gandhi’s husband, who has been in the eye of a storm for his land deals in Haryana and elsewhere.

When asked whether he thinks corporates are doing a quid pro quo by funding BJP’s high-voltage election campaign, he did not give a direct answer. He said he is more concerned about the farmers who have not been paid adequate compensation in the state.

He, however, has said there is “an imprint of corporate India visible in the BJP’s campaign and advertising”. He wants this to be probed.

That corporates may be funding the BJP campaign has been in the news for some time now.

“The sheer volume of the BJP’s advertising presence–three to four ads per day in the newspapers with the highest advertising rates–seems to confirm the general hunch that big business is contributing mightily to this campaign. The Congress can barely keep up with this barrage, and mostly fails to,” a brief posted on The Hoot website had said.

A report in The Times of India had said that the Congress is finding it difficult to get enough funds as corporates are disenchanted with the party.

Patel, however, has not given a clear answer on this. “Our criterion is that every candidate should get funding up to the limit prescribed by the Election Commission and we are trying to ensure that,” he said.

Does this mean that the Congress is cash-strapped? Probably, yes. Otherwise why is the party trying to ensure that its candidates are getting at least the EC-mandated funds?

Read the entire ET interview here .