NEW DELHI: Within 48 hours of starting its crowdfunding campaign, the Congress received Rs 2.81 crore from more than 1.13 lakh donors. Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge launched the “Donate for Desh” crowdsourcing campaign on Monday with a Rs 1.38 lakh donation. Although UPI accounted for 80% of the money donated to the party, sources claimed that the Congress app had been the target of up to 20,000 cyberattacks. They said that the majority of cyber attacks originated overseas and that 1,340 of them involved data theft. According to the sources, in the first 48 hours, over 1,13,700 people gave to the party, totaling Rs 2.81 crore.More than Rs 1 lakh has been donated by thirty-two individuals, including senior party leaders and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. According to the sources, the Congress will use more creative methods to raise money before the 2e024 Lok Sabha elections, including selling memorabilia like t-shirts, mugs and caps autographed by Gandhi. Maharashtra (Rs 56 lakh), Rajasthan (Rs 26 lakh), Delhi (Rs 20 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 19 lakh), and Karnataka (Rs 18 lakh) are among the states that have contributed the most. Although a lot of people have donated in Bihar, the total amount is not very high, according to a party leader. According to him, the party wants to connect as many people with the Congress and reach out to an increasing number of people through the campaign. More than one crore people have accessed the application, according to the sources, who also mentioned that the crowdfunding would pick up steam during a rally scheduled for December 28 in Nagpur to commemorate the party’s founding day. To intensify the campaign, the Congress will shortly designate observers in a number of states. In addition to Kharge and Gandhi, other individuals who contributed more than Rs 1 lakh included Ashok Gehlot, C P Joshi, Sushilkumar Shinde, Devender Yadav, Pawan Khera, Jairam Ramesh, Niranjan Pattanayak, and Pariniti Shinde.The campaign was started on the 138th anniversary of the Congress’s founding. According to the party, the historic “Tilak Swaraj Fund” established by Mahatma Gandhi more than a century ago, in 1920–21, served as the model for this initiative. According to a senior leader, the initiative aims to empower the party in creating an India rich in equitable resource distribution and opportunities. Donors are being asked to contribute in multiples of Rs 138, which stands for the party’s unwavering dedication to improving India. For the crowdsourcing campaign, the party has set up two online platforms: the official Congress website at inc.in and a dedicated portal at donateinc.in.
