The Aditya Birla Group donated Rs 16.6 crore to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rs 13.95 crore to Congress through its General Electoral Trust. It was ranked third in the combined sum for 2007-08 and 2008-09, with companies under the ward of Kumar Mangalam Birla donating a total of Rs 7.76 crore.Following the Aditya Birla Group in 2009-10 were Asianet TV Holdings (Rs12.5 crore), Torrent Power (Rs10.55 crore) and the electoral trust belonging to the Tatas (Rs9.78 crore). The leader of 2007-08 and 2008-09, Bharti Electoral Trust of the Bharti Group, is not present in the listing of 36 companies that donated over Rs1 crore.
In 2009-10, eight of the top 10 donors, and 17 of the 36 companies, gave to both BJP and Congress. "No group wants to be seen to be aligned with any political party for fear, if it has backed the wrong one, of getting the short end of the stick," says Haribhakti, trustee of the General Electoral Trust.
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