No account but our parties are rolling in money

New Delhi: It may be recession time for the world, but political parties in the country appear to be awash with money as they plunge into the world's biggest electoral battle.

There is no official estimate how much money is being spent by political parties on the staggered April-May elections for which campaigning has already begun.

What everyone seems to admit, unofficially though, is that the Election Commission bar on the maximum amount a candidate can spend in his or her constituency is invariably breached. But few get hauled up.

According to unofficial estimates, the Congress, India's oldest and now the ruling party, is set to splurge a whopping Rs 2,000 crore ($400 million) in this election.

A senior Congress leader however told IANS: "We would be spending almost Rs 1,000 crore in the next three months."

A high level source in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said his party too had a similar budget.

Under the law a candidate can spend between Rs 10 lakhs and Rs.25 lakhs in a Lok Sabha battle. But almost all political parties also shell out on advertisement and media blitz.

The Congress has roped in Percept, Crayons and James Walter Thompson (JWT), three leading ad agencies, to prepare the party's campaign strategy.

"These companies are behind the concept, ideas and execution of the Congress campaign," former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh, a member of the Congress publicity committee, told IANS.

The BJP has hired ad agencies Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia.

"They have prepared the advertisements for the BJP which will be used on TV, FM radio and print media," BJP spokesman Sidharth Singh said.

With the Election Commission outlawing the traditionally popular wall writings and graffiti, the major political parties have no option but to spend big money.

Even parties with limited influences but with national aspirations are not short of finances.

"I cannot tell you our budget but our party does not want to lag behind any other in the election campaign," said Munqad Ali, a Rajya Sabha MP of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that rules Uttar Pradesh and is dreaming of winning at least half of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats.

Film clips showing the achievements of the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh and its Chief Minister Mayawati, who has not hidden her prime ministerial ambitions, have been on the air for weeks.

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The financially more prudent Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is not ready to reveal how much it spends on the election but insists that it never breaches the Election Commission rules.

The party hasn't roped in any advertising agency. But it has plans to come up with CDs and audio and video cassettes featuring election songs in West Bengal in particular.

So where is the money coming from -- amid the financial downturn?

"Most major political parties get donations from big business houses," Vinoj Abraham, associate professor of economics at the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, told IANS.

"Since almost all major business houses are going through difficult times, they might cut down their campaign budget. However, this may in turn attract a larger share of unaccounted black money to support the political campaign," he added.

Abraham said the main beneficiary of the huge spending would be the media sector.

"Yet, given that such a large amount of money is going to be pumped into the economy during campaign, it is going to trigger some demand within the economy," he said.

"The sectors that would directly benefit would be mainly media, be it print, audio or visual, communication and transportation," Abraham added.

AIADMK, PMK now target Tamil Nadu, Puducherry governments Text

By T.S.V. Hari

Chennai, March 30 (IANS) Buoyed by their seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha polls, the AIADMK and the PMK are setting their eyes on bringing down the DMK-led ministry in Tamil Nadu and the Congress government in the neighbouring union territory of Puducherry.

AIADMK and PMK, which worked out a seat-sharing arrangement Saturday, may try to oust the Puducherry ministry before the one-day voting for the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in the union territory scheduled for May 13.

In Tamil Nadu, the two parties are still debating whether they should try it before or after the Lok Sabha poll, where they expect to do better than the DMK-led alliance.

The AIADMK is all set to move a motion of no-confidence against the Puducherry government shortly, leader of the party's legislature wing in the union territory A. Anbazhagan told IANS hours ahead of the official announcement on the Lok Sabha seat sharing arrangement.

The Congress ministry in Puducherry has a precarious majority.

"The dissident group led by former chief minister N. Rangasamy is said to have three members in its fold, bringing the tally of those who can clearly vote against the government to 15. Regardless of the nominated members being allowed/not allowed to vote, the regime's majority wavers between one and two in the house of 30 (elected) plus three (nominated) because two belong to the AIADMK and CPI (Communist Party of India)," Anbazhagan said.

The opposition parties in the Puducherry assembly have a combined strength of 12, of which AIADMK, PMK and Puducherry Makkal Congress have three members each, CPI two and MDMK two.

The DMK-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in Tamil Nadu is better placed in the numbers game but Congress bashing by a supporting party over the Sri Lankan issue can cause trouble.

"Though the situation in Tamil Nadu is slightly different from Puducherry, here too we can bank on Congress members unhappy over DMK's reluctance to sever ties with Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a hardcore LTTE supporter," a senior PMK leader told IANS requesting anonymity.

VCK, led by Thol Thirumavalavan, has support among Dalits. Besides strident support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Thirumavalavan has been unsparing in attacking the Congress and the UPA government over the Sri Lankan crisis.

"The DMK government has the effective support of 132 members (96 DMK, 35 Congress and one VCK) in the 231-member assembly where four seats are vacant. The opposition has 96 members (AIADMK 60, PMK 18, two Left parties 14, MDMK three and DMDK one).

"At least 11 Congress legislators are nursing serious grievances over VCK's continuance in the alliance. These members and some more Congress members can be won over as and when we move a no-confidence motion against the government," the PMK leader said.

DMK does not seem worried over the moves.

"The governments in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have comfortable majorities. The opposition may try to bring down the two governments but it will fail," DMK spokesperson K. Subbu asserted when asked about the threat to the governments from the new combine of AIADMK and PMK.