One of the reasons why Karnataka is such an important state for both the BJP and the Congress is because it is considered being the last ATM for the Congress Party, as in the only source of funding. This is one of the reasons why the BJP wanted to win the Karnataka election and the main reason the Congress wanted to stay desperately in power. The state Punjab is run by Capt. Amarinder Singh independently, and there isn’t much one can extract from a Union Territory like Pondicherry.
According to the Times of India report, the INC is facing a financial crisis. “We don’t have money”, said the INC social media head Divya Spandana. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms by the end of 2017 financial year, the BJP declared an income of Rs 1,034 crore, an increase of 81 percent from a year ago, whereas the INC in comparison, received Rs 2,25 crore, a drop of 14 percent from the previous year. The Congress leadership have also stopped sending funds required for running its offices in many places. Officials have been asked to cut their spending in order to save whatever remaining fund is available. Effects of cash crunch were clearly visible in its campaign during the elections of the North-Eastern states. It is expected without ample amount of funds the Congress party would suffer during the 2019 General Election campaigning and it would also affect its organizational mobility. The new office of the Congress party is still under construction because of the paucity of funds and on the other hand the BJP has already shifted to its newly built headquarter at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi. According to speculations in 2019 voters could witness the BJP going for a high-tech advance election campaign whereas congress and other parties will go for a down to earth ground campaign. Looking at the present political scenario it will be easy for the BJP to raise funds since it is in power but in the past even without ample amount of funds, the BJP managed to come to power through its simple door to door and ground campaigning. Even here Congress is lagging behind probably because their workers are not that much exposed to the ground realities.
Losing elections in a row only exacerbated the cash problem of the Congress. Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has just not lost elections but also its source of funding state after state. Some respite came for the Congress after Karnataka election where they somehow managed to stay in government by forming a post-poll alliance with the JD(S). Despite managing to stay in government and losing the Chief Ministership, it looks like Congress has been outsmarted. According to the latest reports, Rahul Gandhi’s sudden absence and JD(S) pressure tactics have worked. The home ministry has been left for Congress, but all the ministries which control money- finance, revenue etc.- are likely to go to the JD(S) way. So this hotchpotch government isn’t likely to change Congress’ financial status. And what did they expect from this small-time regional party? There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy is a clever father-son duo. Father became the PM with 17 MPs and now son has become the CM of Karnataka with 37 MLAs. In terms of wit, the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi is far behind.
