TRS leaders run short of cash to fund campaign

Hyderabad: TRS candidates who have been campaigning among the public from the very next day after the Assembly, with their followers and party workers in tow, are becoming jittery with the mounting day to day expenditure of the canvassing.

After the Cabinet recommended to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to dissolve the first Assembly of Telangana state on September 6, TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced the names of 105 candidates out of the 119 in the state.

It has been 57 days since then. The TRS candidates are the only ones on the ground while the main Opposition grouping has not named its nominees. The BJP has nominated less than half the candidates.

Even as they are counting the costs of their lonely campaign, they have another 40 days to go before the polling on December 7.

A sitting MLA from Mahbubnagar district, who had won in 2009 on a TD ticket and joined the TRS a few days ago, sold his plot in the city for Rs 4 crore as he had to pay his campaigners. The candidate has said off the record that he had to take care of the expenses of party workers and followers each day.

He said, “imagine the cost of arranging breakfast, lunch and dinner and liquor, transport and pocket expenses for around 500 persons each day.”

The candidate said he had spent '3 crore since the announcement of his candidature. Selling his plot was not enough to pay for the campaign till the polling day; he will have to borrow from his friends and find other sources of funding.

Other candidates of the TRS are also facing a similar situation. Besides, they are apprehensive about the doubling of daily spending after the poll notification is issued and filing of nominations begins.

The candidates are privately saying that apart from the expenditure for the campaign they are having to procure funds to woo voters a day prior to the polling which be in crores of rupees.

On the other hand, it is not all hunky dory with aspirants on the Opposition side. 

The aspirants in the Congress are worrying about the fate of their candidature in view of the grand alliance of the party with the Telugu Desam, CPI and the Telangana Jana Samiti.

It has been reported that the names will be announced only on November 9. They felt this was a blessing in disguise: They have not had to spend much so far.