No funding from Cong, Puri LS candidate returns ticket

Congress candidate for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency Sucharita Mohanty has declined to contest the elections and returned the party ticket alleging lack of funding from the party.

Mohanty, daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty in a mail to AICC general secretary (organization) K C Venugopal on Friday claimed that her campaign in the Puri Lok Sabha constituency has been hit hard because the party has denied funding.

She alleged that AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar "categorically" asked her to fight from her own resources.

Elections to the Puri Lok Sabha constituency will be held on May 25.

"I was a salaried professional journalist who entered electoral politics 10 years ago. I have given all I have into my campaign in Puri. I tried a public donation drive to support my campaign for progressive politics without much success so far. I also tried to cut down the projected campaign spending to the minimum," she said.

As she was not able to raise funds on her own, the Congress leader had approached all senior leaders including the party's central leadership for funds for an impactful campaign in the Puri Lok Sabha constituency.

"It is clear that only fund crunch is holding us back from a winning campaign in Puri. I regret that without party funding, it won't be possible to carry out the campaign in Puri. I, therefore, return the party ticket for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency herewith," she said in her mail to the AICC.

However, Mohanty said she will remain a loyal Congress worker and her leader is Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking to media persons, Mohanty said "I was denied funds from the party. In Assembly segments under the Puri LS constituency, weak candidates were given tickets. BJP and BJD are sitting on mountains of money. Vulgar displays of wealth are everywhere. It was difficult for me to fight the election."

The Congress leader said she wanted a people-oriented campaign but that was also not possible with the lack of funds. The party is also not responsible for that as the BJP government has crippled the party. There are a lot of curbs on expenditure and many bank accounts have been frozen, she added.

AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajoy Kumar said "Mohanty is saying that no fund provided and weak MLA candidates have been fielded. The party has nominated its best candidate for the MLA seats and funds will be provided to a candidate when the candidate launches the campaign and seriously fights at the ground."

Before coming to the ground, she (Mohanty) has alleged that no funds were given. But, at the time when she was requesting a party ticket, Mohanty had said that she would seriously fight the election, Kumar said.

The party has already decided to change the Puri LS candidate and a proposal was submitted to the Congress high command. The name of the new candidate will be announced very soon, he said.

Sucharita has been fielded by the Congress from the Puri Lok Sabha seat against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and BJD candidate Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner.