Denied party funding, Congress Puri LS candidate Sucharita Mohanty returns ticket
Bhubaneswar, May 4: 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.
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BJP chief Vijayendra targets Siddaramaiah govt on law and order situation in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Saturday targeted the Congress government in the state alleging the collapse of the law and order situation and raised concerns about the safety of women, while urging the Siddaramaiah-led administration to "wake up" and take immediate measures in this regard.
He also reiterated the party's demand that the state government hand over the probe relating to cases of sexual abuse of women against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna to the CBI.
"From the time Congress came to power in the state, the law and order situation has completely deteriorated. Murders and extortions are taking place everywhere. There is rise in rape and love jihad cases. There are questions about women's security," Vijayendra said.
While speaking to reporters here, he said, the deteriorating law and order situation is bringing disrepute to the state.
"There is a sense as though there is no government here and the police system is not functioning. As the government is not taking stringent measures, murders are on a rise in Karnataka. So we have held a protest across the state.
"It is already late now, we urge that the government should wake up at least now and discharge its duty of maintaining law and order, and take measures to give protection to women," he added.
Protests were held by the mahila morcha (women's wing) of BJP across the state today and memorandums were submitted to Deputy Commissioners in all districts. In Bengaluru a delegation led by senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda submitted a memorandum to Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Mohan.
The BJP's stand is very clear regarding cases involving Prajwal Revanna and charges of sexual abuse of women against him, Vijayendra, in response to a question, said and added that the state government has to take the issue seriously and handover the probe to the CBI.
"Every day new things are coming forward in this case. So I demand that without any delay the Hassan's Prajwal Revanna cases should be given to the CBI probe. Why is the government hesitant? Names of several senior leaders are also being heard in connection with the cases, and leak of alleged explicit videos. There cannot be fair probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT)," he said.
The BJP is not supporting anyone in connection with these cases and only wants justice for women victims, Vijayendra said, adding that "Instead of using the cases politically, government should immediately hand over them to the CBI aimed at providing justice for women victims...there is no question of any party here, it (alleged sexual abuse) was a henious crime, whoever is guilty, however big they are, they should be punished."
The state BJP chief was responding to party leader and advocate G Devaraje Gowda, who is in custody after being arrested in a sexual abuse case and is also facing charges of video leak, on Friday alleged that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and four other ministers are behind the circulation of pen drives containing explicit videos involving Prajwal Revanna, and that he was being fixed in false cases as he did not agree to be part of their plan.
Gowda has even alleged that he was offered Rs 100 crore by Shivakumar to "bring a bad name" to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and to tarnish the image of JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy in Prajwal Revanna's obscene video case.
