AAP’s Karwal Nagar candidate gets more donations than party chief Kejriwal
NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal may be the most popular face of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but when it comes to donations it is 34-year-old Kapil Mishra who leads the AAP pack.
Mishra, the party’s candidate from Karawal Nagar constituency, has so far received `3,470,634 in donations, which is almost three times as much as AAP supremo Kejriwal who has managed only `1,202,413 in donations so far.
The pattern of donations in the case of Mishra is also very interesting and has seen 10 bigticket donations. Five individuals each have donated `5 lakh to him while three others have donated `3 lakh, `2 lakh and `1 lakh each respectively.
“I worked very hard on fundraising and was able to get in touch with a number of NRIs, who were willing to donate money for my campaign,” said Mishra, who did his masters in Social Work from Delhi School of Social Work (Delhi University) and worked in Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
Mishra, the son of former East Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Annapurna Mishra, has wholeheartedly made efforts to rope in donations for his party.
“I reached out to friends and friends of friends on the social media. I also used my LinkedIn profile to get in touch with people. I think I managed to get a good response because I focused on two things. I spoke to people about my background and my reasons for joining AAP. I also focused on what I want to do for my constituency,” Mishra said.
Prodded about how having a BJP councilor as his mother affected his campaign, Mishra said it was a drawback that he had to work around.
“It an impediment early on. My ideology is different from my mother’s. I have previously been involved with Youth for Justice, which was among the few organisations that got together to demand justice for Jessica Lal. I have also worked towards raising awareness about Yamuna conservation and farmer suicides,” he said.
So what do the donators expect from Mishra now?
“I am in touch with people who gave me money. I held a Google Hangout with them and we are new like friends. They are supporting my campaign and are looking forward to the work I do once elected,” Mishra said.