Congress’s nominee for Puri Lok Sabha seat Sucharita Mohanty wrote to party leadership on Saturday saying that she is returning her ticket as the party has denied her funds to contest the polls.
Mohanty wrote to party secretary K.C. Venugopal that she is returning her ticket as her Lok Sabha polls campaign has been hit hard due to lack of funds. She added her crowd funding found only little success and with lack of funding from the party, she wouldn’t be able to carry out campaign in Puri.
"Our campaign in the Puri Parliamentary constituency has been hit hard because the party has denied me funding. AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar ji categorically asked me to fend for myself. I was a salaried professional journalist who entered electoral politics 10 years ago. I have given all I have into my campaign in Puri," ANI reported quoting Mohanty’s letter.
Mohanty claimed there is groundswell of support for Congress this election and people are all set to throw out BJP government in Centre and BJD at State. "Since I couldn't raise funds on my own, I knocked at your and all other doors of our party's central leadership urging them to commit the necessary party funds for an impactful campaign in Puri Parliament seat,” she said. Mohanty added, “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 INC ticket for the Puri parliamentary constituency herewith," she said in her letter.
Mohanty is the daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty. "I have returned the ticket because the party was not able to fund me. Another reason is that in some of the seats in seven assembly segments, winnable candidates have not been given the ticket. Instead, some weak candidates got the ticket. I couldn't contest like this,” she told ANI.
However, Mohanty said she will remain a loyal Congress worker and her leader is Rahul Gandhi.
Sucharita has been fielded for the Puri Lok Sabha seat against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and BJD candidate Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner.
-with inputs from agencies.
