'Compared to BJP And BJD, We Are No Match': Congress's Puri Lok Sabha Pick Who Withdrew due to Fund Crunch to News18

Mohanty (R) made her debut in electoral politics as the Congress’s Lok Sabha candidate in 2014. Pic/News18

Sucharita Mohanty said she even tried to run a donation drive to raise funds but was unsuccessful

The Congress candidate from the prestigious Lok Sabha constituency of Puri, Sucharita Mohanty, has taken the “painful” step of returning her ticket alleging that the party has denied her funds and she does not have any to contest the elections. Speaking to News 18, Mohanty said, “The party is not able to fund me which is why I withdrew. Weaker candidates have got tickets for MLAs, that is one reason. Primarily, good politics is hit by bad politics. It is painful. In fact, it is very painful to betray the aspirations of those who got associated with me”.

Asked whether she had received any response from the party yet, she said, “The party is not in a position to give me money. If I had got funds, I would not have returned my ticket. The only regret I have is that I could not do anything to fulfil the aspirations of those who supported me.”

In a letter sent to All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal late on the night of May 3, Sucharita Mohanty said, “Our campaign in Puri parliamentary constituency has been hit hard because the party has denied me funding. AICC Odisha in-charge Dr Ajoy Kumar ji categorically asked me to fend for myself. I was a salaried professional journalist who entered electoral politics ten years ago. I have given my all into my campaign in Puri.”

Mohanty’s debut in electoral politics was as the Congress’s Lok Sabha candidate in 2014. She says that in that year, during the Narendra Modi wave, she had got 45,000 votes more than the BJP. However, she did not win. Biju Janata Dal’s Pinaki Misra bagged that constituency.

“Our party is having a serious fund crunch; the party’s accounts were frozen. Compared to the other two parties (BJP and BJD), we are no match. Congress is no match. The party is not able to fund candidates adequately throughout the country. That is the only reason,” the Congress leader from Puri said.

Mohanty added that she did try to raise funds for her campaign, something she has mentioned in her letter to Venugopal. “I tried. I started a donation drive as I had the support of people, especially women voters. Then I decided that I do not have to compete with my opponents. I am a woman candidate. I am a professional. I had come here to work for the people, not for a career. It is not possible to contest without funds and my donation drive was not successful as there was no time. So, I thought that I should do justice to my ticket. Puri is a prestigious constituency, let the party give it to somebody else,” she said.

The last date for filing a nomination is April 6, which means there is still time for the party to either reach out to her or nominate someone else.

BJD’s Arup Patnaik is pitted against BJP’s Sambit Patra in Puri this time. Incidentally, the temple town of Lord Jagannath has never had an elected woman representative to the Lok Sabha since the first elections in 1952. A former journalist close to Mohanty, who did not wish to be named, pointed out that she was in fact the first-ever woman candidate to contest for Lok Sabha from Puri in 2014.

Emphasising the ties that she has had with the Congress party, Mohanty said, “My parents are both Congress people. They dedicated their entire life to the Congress party. I had thought that after my career and children were on their own, I was free and could go back to my roots. That is why I entered politics in 2014. I have Congress in my DNA. I am hopeful that one day, Rahul ji will be the prime minister of the country.”

Sucharita Mohanty’s father late Brajmohan Mohanty was state Congress President in 1969 following a split in the party. The Congress party here then was led by Biju Patnaik. “Indira Gandhi had made Brajmohan Mohanty, a young first-time MLA who was one of the three that the Congress party was left with, the state unit president. He was given the responsibility of rebuilding the Congress party, which he did in two years. The present leadership of the Congress in the state are his disciples,” recalled the former journalist mentioned above. “Sucharita has an emotional connection with the people of Puri, especially women because of the roots of her illustrious parents in Puri. When Brajmohan died in 1999, Naveen Patnaik was the steel and mines minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. He issued a statement saying ‘he was our conscience keeper, who do we go to for counselling’. This is a big blow not only for her and the people of Puri but for democracy because we have to seriously think as to what the future of democracy is in our country.”

“If I had got funds, we would have created magic. Miracles happen. We could have started value-based politics. Today, it is a vulgar display of money power. Balloons, firecrackers, dances by horses, bike rallies. I was in Bhubaneswar yesterday and I thought that the procession passing by was a marriage procession, but it was a road show, a rally of a candidate. They are burning money,” said Mohanty before answering her next call.

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