Kejriwal getting slapped might just be the god-send the party needs to boost its coffers

Kejriwal getting slapped might just be the god-send the party needs to boost its coffers, at least according to a Times of India report.

The report points out how every time Kejriwal has been attacked, the party has seen a spike in the donations. If one were to look at the AAPtrends website keeps a track of AAP's donations by using data from the official site, one can see that days where Kejriwal was attacked have been particularly good for the party.

It should be noted that the website is not an official one from the party but run by a party member and sources its data from the official party website.

According to the numbers, when Kejriwal was slapped by an auto-rickshaw driver on 8 April, the party saw donations worth Rs 85,79,421, which more than double of its donations from the previous day. On 7 April, the party's donations were at Rs 29,56,061.

It should be noted that Kejriwal getting slapped by the autorickshaw driver was also the biggest trend on both Facebook and Twitter.

On 4 April, when Kejriwal was punched and slapped at Dakshinpuri in south Delhi, the donations crossed Rs 1 crore. The party donations stood at Rs 1,35,53,977 on the date, whereas on 3 April they were at a measly Rs 35,13,918.

The Varanasi attack saw the party's donation rise to Rs 48,88,841 on 25 March, a massive jump from 27 March when the party donations were at Rs 19,08,613.

The only exception to this has been "when Kejriwal was attacked on March 8 in Ahmedabad, when donations came down from Rs 16.46 lakh to Rs 13 lakh," points out the TOI report.

For AAP, the total party donations have been at Rs 24 crore well short of Rs 100 crore target the party had set for itself. Incidentally after the attack by the auto-rickshaw driver Lali in Delhi, Kejriwal went and met the man at the latter's residence and gifted him a bouquet and fruits. The gesture was intended as a gesture of forgiveness, but it could well have been a big thank you.