‘Bhai saara mat khao, BSP ne MLA, MP banaya, ek lakh lao’

We had fixed a target of Rs 2 lakh for each assembly segment for this year. Collect it the way you will, but for next year I will tell you the method to be adopted. My method will be followed next year since that is in the interest of the party.

But this year you first clear the balance. It should be deposited at the party office by February 25, the last date…but I do not agree with the method followed by you.

This year you people gave less money when you raised it at the organisational level and more when you collected it through ticket-seekers. For those who are financially sound, it’s alright. But many have given money only to get the party ticket which is not a good thing. Greed is behind their decision…

You people have collected money through a strange method (bedhanga tarika). Some have given Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 1 lakh. Our downtrodden people cannot arrange such amounts. Those who gave this money claimed they wanted to be involved with the party and were giving it without any self-interest. But why were they not contributing earlier? This means they have some vested interest. I have not taken money by offering some temptation (lalach) and they say they have given me without any expectation (niswarth bhav), but they were not contributing to the party funds earlier. Why now?

Because the elections to the UP assembly are not far off. It means that most of the money had been given by greedy people (lalchi log)… We should follow a method which should not result in too much pressure on an individual, and at the same time nobody should be able to blackmail us by giving the money on a large scale, should not try to purchase our party through his money power…

This method which our legislators followed so far had the following outcome: if I asked the legislator to give Rs 1 lakh for party funds, some gave 50,000, some one lakh. And half of them are yet to clear the balance.

But you as well as I know the truth, and the truth is the same for every legislator belonging to any party; I have been the CM, and people who used to meet me have been telling me and some legislators have spoken to me frankly.

In UP, a legislator gets a sum of Rs 75 lakh — which was Rs 50 lakh earlier — every year from the vidhyak nidhi to ensure development of his constituency. How much do the legislators get for developing their constituency? Rs 75 lakh. How much do the MPs get? Rs 2 crore now; it was Rs 1 crore earlier.

And what are these legislators doing in their constituency? Some legislators are honest and the contractors and commission agents give money to them on their own, but those who are experts, squeeze the extra money out of it. The honest ones get from contractors and agents who claim they are donating to the party fund of their own free will. But no one was coming to him with this offer when he was not an MLA (tab usko koi ghaas nahi dal raha tha)…

So, an MLA gets Rs 75 lakh each year and an MP Rs 2 crore for development of his constituency. What does the legislator do with the Rs 75 lakh which he gets every year? All developmental works in the constituency are carried out with his nod and he fixes the agencies through which he wants to get the job completed. And the clever (chalak) legislators deal on their own and negotiate with contractors on five or ten per cent basis, even if the job is worthless. (chahe kaam bekaar ho).

The honest legislators do not make any demand but automatically get Rs 5 lakh per year out of Rs 75 lakh because the agents say they are giving of their own will. And clever legislators fix their commission…So, the honest legislators get anything between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh while the corrupt ones get even more.

When you get Rs 5 lakh without going anywhere, don’t gobble up the amount yourself. Leave Rs 1 lakh for the party (Bhai, saara mat khao, char lakh chetra me lagaon, ek lakh party ke liye lao). The same is true for the MPs…

So, I have fixed Rs 2 lakh for MPs and one lakh for MLAs. Bhai saara mat khao, BSP ne MLA, MP banaya hain to aapko har saal kam se kam movement ke liye itna dena chahiye.

Am I stating anything wrong? I think the MLAs agree with me…