It seems that the Grand Old Party is losing out badly in all walks of life. It suffers from an acute trust-deficit among all the sections of society. Now, it seems that even the corporate houses have no faith in the Congress. As far as the biggest electoral trust, Prudent Electoral Trust, is concerned the Congress has been out of favour. The BJP, on the other hand seems to have got the lion’s share and leaves congress way behind in terms of corporate houses’ trust.
According to the trust’s contribution report, the trust gave a huge chunk of the funds that it generated, i.e. Rs. 144 crore out of Rs. 169 crore to the BJP which is in power at the centre and a majority of states across India. On the other hand, the Congress is in a pitiable condition. It has received a sum of merely Rs 10 crore from the electoral trust which appears meagre when compared to BJP’s share. This shows that everyone, including the major corporate houses feel that it is all over for the Rahul Gandhi led party and therefore, they are reluctant to support the INC.
The striking fact is that even the DLF, which is the biggest contributor to the trust, with a contribution of Rs. 52 crores, has not been generous towards the Congress. The fact that Congress has received only Rs. 10 crore from the Prudent Electoral Trust, one can easily understand that the Congress received only a minuscule sum from the DLF as well. This must have come as a blow for the Congress. Traditionally, it was seen as one of Congress’ staunch supporters but now even the DLF is clearly losing confidence in the grand old party. In fact, this is not a new trend. The DLF has been contributing a major chunk of its donations to the BJP through the electoral trust since 2014. Hence, the proportion of donations in the favour of BJP has consistently been increasing.
This is a significant development which must have come as a massive blow for the Congress. It must be kept in mind that 90% of all corporate donations to electoral trusts have gone to Prudent Electoral Trust, over the past four years. This goes on to show the importance, this electoral trust carries with it. It is by far the biggest and most prominent trust. The fact that this trust made a dismal contribution out of the total donations towards the Grand Old Party, shows how unpopular the party is becoming in all sections of the society including the corporate.
The story is not very different with other electoral trusts. The AB General Electoral Trust of the Aditya Birla Group gave Rs. 21 crore in donations to political parties. Out of this, Rs. 12.5 crore went to the BJP, the BJD too got a fair share with Rs. 8 crore and it was again the Congress which failed to make a mark and got only Rs. 1 crore. Moreover, that INR 1 crore came from a single entity, the Murugappa Group-backed Triumph Electoral Trust which also made a donation of Rs. 1 crore to the BJP. This shows that the INC is out of favour in the case of Prudent Electoral Trust.
The way Corporate houses have shown reluctance to back the Congress goes on to give an indication of the fact that Congress is being written off even by everyone. There is a general feeling that the Congress is not going to make a comeback now. With a string of defeats, the Congress has become a dilapidated faction and no one is willing to back it in any manner whatsoever.