No more cash crunch: NRIs' donations pour in to help AAP

New Delhi, April 7: It was just recently that media reported on a 'financial crisis' in Aam Aadmi Party. Reportedly, the young party was struggling to fund its campaign for general elections. Now the problemseems to have been solved, thanks to a group of NRIs.

The non-resident Indians are pooling money to lend a helping hand to AAP through the party's "support a state" (SAS) initiative, said a Times of India report.

"Through the SAS initiative, our supporters across the world are helping in the campaign," Shalini Gupta, organization development advisor, AAP global supporters, said. NRIs in Japan have been lending support to AAP's candidate Ashish Khetan as he contests against Congress's Ajay Maken and BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi from the New Delhi constituency. Similarly Indians residing in Canada have helped to collect over Rs 7 lakh for tribal activist Soni Sori who is contesting from Bastar, Chhattisgarh.

Indians in Seattle in the United States is helping AAP candidate and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar who is contesting from Mumbai North-East while Maya Vishwakarma, standing from Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, is receiving support from California.

There are highly motivated supporters for the party in other countries. For instance, Vishwakarma, a medical researcher, left her PhD at the University of California midway to take the political plunge.

NRIs also assist in fund-raising, running call campaigns,social media outreach

University Students for AAP (US for AAP) are supporting activist Rachna Dhingra, who has been working for rehabilitation of Bhopal gas tragedy victims. Prof Anand Kumar from north east Delhi is receiving support from Indians in Singapore and New Zealand.

The NRIs also assist in fund-raising, running call campaigns, social media outreach and publicity.

Atlanta and Chicago teams have adopted Karnataka, UK Indians are lending support to Kerala and Punjab, Boston is working for Uttar Pradesh while the New Jersey team has been assisting Haryana. North Carolina has been linked with Chhattisgarh while UK and Canada teams have begun supporting Punjab candidates.

Oneindia News