Blow to Cong, two more candidates pull out of poll fray

Bhubaneswar: There seems to be no end to the troubles of faction-riddled Congress in the state. It received yet another setback on Monday with its candidate from Barchana assembly segment, Sitakant Mohapatra, pulling out of the poll fray.
Mohapatra’s sudden change of mind could not have come at a worse time for the Congress as he is the fourth party candidate to refuse to contest the elections, much to the embarrassment of the Grand Old party, which has been struggling to return to power in Odisha since 2000. Mohapatra, a three-time former MLA from Barchana constituency, attributed the reason of his refusal to contest the elections to delay in the announcement of his candidature. “I do not want to contest as it is too late. My name was announced yesterday (April 7). The last date of filing nomination is April 9. I have very little time left to reach out to the voters,” Mohapatra, 76, said. His remark assumes significance amid Congress announcing to declare the names of at least 50 key candidates by August in June last year such that they could get enough time to strengthen their bases in their constituencies.

Making matters worse for the party, the Congress has been facing dissent over alleged irregularities in distribution of tickets. Amid the turmoil, party president Rahul Gandhi’s scheduled visit to Phulbani on Tuesday has been cancelled.

Earlier, Congress candidates Muktikant Biswal, Pruthvi Ballav Patnaik and Yudhistir Samantaray refused to contest after getting tickets from Rourkela, Begunia and Pipili assembly constituencies. Samantaray too had questioned the delay in the announcement of his candidature. The Congress candidate from Tirtol assembly seat, Bibhu Prasad Tarai, dealt another blow to the party and resigned before joining BJP last week. Besides, the Congress has already replaced its candidates at Digapahandi, Hinjili, Sambalpur, Cuttack Sadar and Dharmasala assembly segments reportedly under duress from disgruntled party workers.

Amid the simmering discontent in Congress ahead of the first phase of elections on April 11, some prominent frontal organisations of the party in Odisha have revolted against Niranjan Patnaik, president of the party in the state, over distribution of tickets. Sumitra Jena and Loknath Maharathy, presidents of the state units of mahila and youth wings of Congress, respectively, said Niranjan messed up the party’s winning prospects. “Niranjan babu is playing role of Shakuni in the Congress. The party was on the path of revival and upbeat after its wins in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Niranjan babu and his son Navjyoti (candidate from Balasore Lok Sabha seat) offered tickets to wealthy persons. I doubt if Congress can win even five assembly seats out of 147,” Jena said. “We never expected that the father-son duo will spoil the party,” added Maharathy.

Niranjan, however, called these allegations baseless. “There has been no irregularity in finalising the tickets. Dissent is understandable as each seat had more than one aspirants,” he said.