)
The Aam Aadmi Party may have been pulled up by cops and the Election Commission post their clash in the Capital with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) but the party has got a pat on their back, in the form of donations, from their supporters.
The party saw the highest number of donations in around two months and the funds surged by a mammoth 265% on Wednesday when the clash between the two parties took place in Delhi and Lucknow.
This has even surpassed the 260% rise in donations witnessed at the time when Arvind Kejriwal, the then chief minister of Delhi, had resigned along with his Cabinet.
The party on Wednesday received Rs 24.26 lakh as funds from 1,547 people across the country against Rs 6.63 lakh received from 372 donors a day back. On Thursday, when their senior party leaders Ashutosh and Shazia Ilmi were taken for interrogation by the Delhi police, the funds kept pouring at almost the same pace as the party got Rs 22.25 lakh from 1,357 people.
This is the also the first time since Kejriwal resigned as the Chief Minister of Delhi that the party has received funds worth more than Rs 20 lakh on two consecutive days.
Till now, the party has received Rs 11.09 crore funds from 54,500 Indians and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
On Wednesday, the AAP volunteers, including Ashutosh and Ilmi, had clashed with BJP workers outside the saffron party’s Delhi and Lucknow headquarters after their party convenor Kejriwal was detained briefly by the state police in Gujarat during his tour.
Kejriwal, who began his four-day tour of Gujarat, was detained for 30 minutes for allegedly violating the model code of conduct by travelling in a long carcade.
Things turned ugly during the clash as around 28 people were reportedly injured. Video footages showed the party workers using stones, chairs and lathis to attack each other. Police arrested 14 AAP workers who were later given bail by the Delhi court. The District Election Officer of Delhi also wrote to the party asking them to explain about their demonstration outside the BJP office.
