Congress’s Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sucharita Mohanty on Saturday returned her poll party ticket citing the alleged denial of funding by the party.
This comes days after Akshaya Kanti Bam, the party’s candidate from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, withdrew his nomination to join the BJP. Also, a few weeks earlier, the party faced another setback when its Surat candidate, Nilesh Kumbhani, had his nomination rejected. Consequently, this led to the BJP securing the Gujarat seat uncontested as all other candidates also withdrew their nominations.
Mohanty has sent a mail to Congress general secretary for organisation K C Venugopal saying that without party funding it will not be possible for her to 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 Dr 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,” Mohanty wrote.
Puri votes in the sixth phase on May 25. The last date for filing nominations in Puri is May 6.
Puri is among the high-profile battles, with the BJP candidate being its national spokesperson Sambit Patra and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) fielding former Mumbai Police commissioner Arup Patnaik.
