Crowdsourcing vs political funding: Shashi Tharoor admits Congress facing `bit of crisis`

Congress Party has appealed to people at large to `save democracy` and make financial donations to it.

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has backed his parties appeal asking people at large for financial contributions, saying that most opposition parties in the country - including his own - are facing 'a bit of crisis.'

Congress, in a tweet on Thursday, had appealed people to 'save democracy' and make financial contributions to the party. Tharoor, a day later, backed the decision to go to people for money and said the party in power mostly always gets maximum political funding. "No doubt that BJP is soaking up most of the political funding, partly because money goes to those who are in power. As a result most of the opposition parties are facing a bit of a crisis - particularly the Congress which has a nationwide presence," he told news agency ANI.

Moving forward, Tharoor sees crowdfunding as a viable option for both regional as well as national parties. "In Karnataka, while most candidates financed their own campaign, in one case we did crowdfunding effort and it was successful. It can be repeated in general elections," he said.

It is has been widely known and reported on that while BJP has seen its income rise, Congress coffers have emptied. According to an April report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) - an NGO working for political and electoral reforms in the country, BJP declared an income of Rs 1,034.27 crore to the Election Commission - a rise of Rs 463.41 crore from the previous submission made. The same report noted that Congress has seen its income fall by 14%.

As for regional parties, an ADR report earlier this week outlined that the Samajwadi Party was the richest in terms of assets, followed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).