Cong leader stirs row by seeking public donations

The financial crisis has landed Congress, the grand old party, in an unseemly controversy with its leader Lallan Kumar seeking donations from people to help the people affected by the pandemic. The appeal was made by the Congress leader through an advertisement in a local Hindi daily.

However, the UP Congress Committee has distanced itself from the donation advertisement saying it has no official sanction. The advertisement has the photos of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu.

The advertisement apparently endorses the campaign for cashless transactions launched by Prime Minister Narendrsa Modi, following demonetisation of the high value currency notes in November 2016. Kumar has sought donations through PayTM and BHIM app along with NEFT or RTGS. His bank account number has also been given in the advertisement.

Meanwhile, Lallu categorically denied the role of the party in the advertisement. “It’s an act of indiscretion by Lallan Kumar and against the party’s ideology of publicly seeking donations. I will look into this matter and seek a report,” Lallu said, adding it was clearly an anti-party activity by Kumar.

This is the second controversy to have hit the UP Congress within a week. Earlier, the party had to face embarrassment over the alleged meeting of Ajay Kumar Lallu and media department chairman Naseemuddin Siddiqui with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. However, both the leaders denied having met Akhilesh Yadav.