Corporate donation is a way to thank govt for favours, says Chidambaram

New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram lambasted the BJP- led Narendra Modi government over receiving bulk of electoral bonds saying that corporate donation is a way of expressing gratitude to the government for the favours extended.

He claimed that electoral bonds worth over Rs 12,000 crore have been sold so far, a bulk of which has been purchased by corporates and donated to the BJP anonymously.

"Why are corporates so eager to donate through the non-transparent electoral bonds mechanism? " he questioned.

Some corporates, he said, do not donate through Electoral Bonds as they love democracy.

"Corporate donation is the way to express their thanks to the Government for the numerous favours they had got in the past years. "

"It is a neat arrangement. Favours are done quietly. Rewards are received secretly. Long live our anonymous democracy" he added.

According to a report prepared by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on the income of different political parties during the fiscal under review, while the BJP has continued to be the highest income generating party at Rs 1,917 crore, Trinamool Congress has emerged the second highest on this count at Rs 545.75 crore. Congress has moved to the third position at Rs 541.27 crore.

However, in terms of the percentage of income from electoral bonds of total income, Trinamool Congress has moved to the first position, putting BJP behind them in the second position.

As per ADR report, almost 97 (96.77) per cent of Trinamool Congress's income during 2021-22 has come from electoral bonds. In case of BJP, electoral bonds contribute for just 54 per cent of its total income during the fiscal under review.

On the expenditure side, while Trinamool Congress had spent 49.17 per cent of its total income during the fiscal under review, the figure for BJP during the same period stands at 44.57 per cent. Congress had exhausted almost 74 (73.98) per cent of its expenditure during the financial year under review.