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Prices of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's paintings have surged from Rs 10,000 each in 2005 to Rs 3 lakh each in 2013.
Observers said the prices had marched in step with Banerjee's political career.
There are rumours about a sale of her painting at Rs 1.8 crore to Saradha promoter Sudipta Sen.
Derek O'Brien, national spokesperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), said, "She has donated her paintings to the party, which has hosted exhibitions under Jago Bangla, the newspaper of the party. At these exhibitions, some have been sold but the proceeds have never gone to her."
TMC on Tuesday gave the prices of Banerjee's paintings. Her first exhibition was in 2005. The paintings were Rs 10,000-20,000 each, according to the statement.
In 2006, the TMC, won 29 of 294 seats in Assembly elections. After that, the Singur and Nandigram cases boosted her career.
At the second exhibition in 2007, the paintings were Rs 1,00,000 each, the party said.
"From the proceeds of these and more exhibitions/sales, Rs 1 crore was sent to the chief minister's relief fund and Rs 10 lakh to the Governor's. Assistance was also provided to the victims of the police and Communist Party of India (Marxist) brutality in Nandigram and other places," the TMC said. The third exhibition was in 2011, just before the Assembly elections. Artworks aside, 127,000 postcards and 10,000 catalogues were sold at Galerie 88 in Kolkata. The paintings at Rs 2-3 lakh each were red hot with Bengal's industrialists. Jago Bangla gave some proceeds to charity and the rest to TMC candidates for the coming Assembly elections, the party said. In October 2012, a painting was donated for an annual auction in New York for Children's Hope India. The painting was sold for Rs 1.39 lakh to Sundaram Tagore Gallery, the party said. The fourth exhibition in January 2013 was her first as the chief minister. The paintings were priced at Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh each, the party said. The TMC said, "Nothing cloak-and-dagger about these transactions."
