File photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says his Aam Aadmi Party is broke and needs money even for day-to-day expenses. All he asks, is Rs 10 or more from people in India and abroad.
Since Mr Kejriwal made his appeal last night, the party has seen an impressive jump in donations.
"You would say I am a weird Chief Minister for asking for funds like this. You will say we made him Chief Minister, still he is asking for money. We can get money the wrong way but that is not who we are. Your 10 rupees will help us pursue honest politics," Mr Kejriwal said.
"Since we came to power, our funds have dried up. Now we want funds to run our party and we want it from the public. You people funded us, we never had any money to fight polls, we never took any money secretly from big shots....Now after forming a government, whatever money we had is over. We need money to run the party," he explained.
The party has also started a "Donate for AAP" campaign on twitter.
Over the years, Mr Kejriwal and his party have made fundraisers and online donations their USP. Last year, AAP claimed that Mr Kejriwal's appeal on social media in February helped the party raise 1 crore in two days.
Till November, the party had raised 21 crores, but sources say it has all been spent in elections.
In the past 15 days, the steady flow has turned into a trickle. Only Saturday, the party touched a new low with just Rs 709 donated in the entire day. On Sunday, it received a little over 8,200 and on Monday, it came down to around Rs 3,000.
The party assesses that its donations have been hit poll fatigue and by the controversy that led to the exit of founding members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from AAP.
The latest appeal comes as AAP faces criticism for splurging public money on ads to publicize the Delhi government's work. The 70-second ad has Mr Kejriwal informing people that his government has hiked the budget for education and health and wants to spend money on people's welfare.
Since Mr Kejriwal made his appeal last night, the party has seen an impressive jump in donations.
"You would say I am a weird Chief Minister for asking for funds like this. You will say we made him Chief Minister, still he is asking for money. We can get money the wrong way but that is not who we are. Your 10 rupees will help us pursue honest politics," Mr Kejriwal said.
"Since we came to power, our funds have dried up. Now we want funds to run our party and we want it from the public. You people funded us, we never had any money to fight polls, we never took any money secretly from big shots....Now after forming a government, whatever money we had is over. We need money to run the party," he explained.
The party has also started a "Donate for AAP" campaign on twitter.
Over the years, Mr Kejriwal and his party have made fundraisers and online donations their USP. Last year, AAP claimed that Mr Kejriwal's appeal on social media in February helped the party raise 1 crore in two days.
Till November, the party had raised 21 crores, but sources say it has all been spent in elections.
In the past 15 days, the steady flow has turned into a trickle. Only Saturday, the party touched a new low with just Rs 709 donated in the entire day. On Sunday, it received a little over 8,200 and on Monday, it came down to around Rs 3,000.
The party assesses that its donations have been hit poll fatigue and by the controversy that led to the exit of founding members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from AAP.
The latest appeal comes as AAP faces criticism for splurging public money on ads to publicize the Delhi government's work. The 70-second ad has Mr Kejriwal informing people that his government has hiked the budget for education and health and wants to spend money on people's welfare.
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