BRS received Rs 683 Cr funding in 2023; Gangula, Vaddiraju, Puvvada, Rajapushpa biggest donors

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which is now in the opposition in Telangana, received a whopping Rs 683 crore as party funding in FY2023.

This may likely be the highest funds received by a regional party in a single year. Pertinently, out of the total Rs 683 crore received on paper, 80 percent came via electoral bonds. In electoral bonds, the source of the donors is concealed and hence they remain undisclosed.

NewsMeter accessed the BRS' contribution report 2023 and found that the party received Rs 529.03 crore from electoral bonds and Rs 154 crore from individual donors. Karimnagar sitting BRS MLA and Real Estate Tycoon Rajapusha are among the top funders for the BRS.

Going by reports, BRS sitting MLA Gangula Kamalaka; BRS Rajya Sabha MP Ravi Chandra Vaddiraju -- Chairman and Managing Director of Gayatri Granites, Hansa Power and Infra Limited; and Rajapushpa headed by P Jaychandra Reddy donated Rs 10 crore each. Out of the Rs 154 crore which was donated from individuals, Rs 40 crore came from these four.

The directors of Hansa Power & Infra Private Limited are Satyanarayana Babji Kata, Lakshminarayana Reddy Pennabadi, Naren Puvvada, and Jayasree Puvvada. The surname Puvvada indicates that the company is owned by former transport minister from Khammam, Ajay Purvvada.

The assets of BRS Rajya Sabha MP Vaddiraju Ravi include shares in Gayatri Granites and lands in Telangana. The MP is in the granite and mining business. Vaddiraju and MLA Gangula Kamalakar besides being politicians from the same party are also relatives. It is pertinent to note that sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate had several times raided Gayatri Granites while investigating the FEMA violation case against Kamalakar.

The other BRS donors include Medchal MLA Malla Reddy who donated Rs 5 crore; Rohini Minerals, which donated Rs 5 crore; and Malikarjuna Hospitality, which donated Rs 2.95 crore.

Ahead of the Telangana elections, Rs 376 crore worth of electoral bonds were raised in Hyderabad

Ahead of the Telangana election, electoral bonds and political funding worth Rs 1148.38 crore were raised In November. It is pertinent to note that the SBI's Hyderabad branch raised Rs 376 crore, which was the highest across 14 cities.

In total, 2012 bonds were raised in the 28th phase that opened for purchase between October 4 and 13. It is significant because the exercise happened just before the Telangana state election. Bonds were raised across Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi.

Pertinently, out of the five denominations, 95.352% were sold of Rs 1 crore dominations. This was disclosed by the government in reply to an RTI query from Commodore Lokesh Batra. In reply, 25 political parties have opened their account to encash electoral bonds to date. Accounts are being opened at the branches after obtaining approval from the TD department.

Speaking to News Meter, Commodore Lokesh Batra said, "The sale of electoral bonds in the highest denomination of Rs 1 crore is a clear indication that it is not being bought by ordinary businessmen but only by big business tycoons. Any political donation, that is opaque, seems to be corrupt. Any citizen would like to know his/her candidate and source of money. The scheme was opposed by RBI, ECI, and Law Ministry.”

Commodore Batra said the scheme was prepared with the basic idea of not revealing the names of the donors. “There is no name of the buyer or the seller. It is only the Government of India that will come to know. Even the SBI is under the Centre, and regardless of which party is in power, the government is aware of who is paying whom, and there are chances that the government may choke funding for the Opposition. This is having an impact on every citizen," he said.