The release of this `interim fund' was conveyed in a letter to the 70 MLAs, sent strategically just before the bye-elections on February 22 which, incidentally, the Congress managed to win without the usual infighting.The letter written by the Delhi Finance Minister Mahinder Singh Saathi said the Government has released Rs 35 crore to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to be distributed among all the MLAs.

According to the Principal Secretary, Finance, K S Badiwan, the MLAs can use the fund before the Budget, to be presented by the end of this month. ``If the fund is not spent (before the Budget) then it willnot lapse,'' he added.The Rs 70 crore allocated yearly is sent to the MCD and the Commissioner is entrusted with the job of keeping track of the fund and record how much of it is left unspent.

The package will primarily benefit the 53 Congress MLAs in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. Says a senior Congress leader: ``The elections were held in the middle of the last fiscal year. The new MLAs, mostly coming in place of BJP MLAs, have found a need for money to launch some developmental work in their areas. The interim fund is for that purpose.''

The Congress MLAs have been claiming, since the time they took over in December last year, that the erstwhile BJP MLAs have exhausted all their funds. ``The voters who voted against the BJP want to see a difference and have been waiting very long,'' says an MLA.