When Congress nominee for the Padampur by-election, three-time MLA Satya Bhusan Sahu said he could win the election with ease provided he got adequate funds from his party, the issue of money power in election has come to the fore.
Sahu said the Congress can’t match the money and muscle power of the BJP and the BJD, a prime reason why it has been losing elections. He said the two ruling parties at the State and Centre have done nothing for the development of Padampur where the age-old agriculture-related problems, especially drought, remain unaddressed.
He also raised the issues of poverty and distress migration among the tribals and difficulty of farmers in getting crop insurance money and selling paddy at the procurement centre. Sahu said poverty is so acute that about 30% of the voters in Padampur are far away from homes, working as migrant workers.
Targeting the BJP and BJD, the veteran leader said the Governments at the State and Centre have been taking the gullible people in Padampur for a ride by accusing each other of neglecting farmers leading to nonpayment of crop insurance money under the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). He said rather both are responsible for the plight of the drought-hit farmers, who have been moving from pillar to post to get their legitimate dues.
Notably, unlike Dhamnagar, the Congress has a sizeable vote base in Padampur. In 2019, though Sahu had finished third, yet he had secured 32,787 votes (16. 25%).
The issue of money and muscle power during Dhamnagar bypoll had taken a centre stage with BJP hitting out at the BJD for using SHG women to distribute money to woo voters. Revenue Minister Pramila Mallik had rubbished the allegation saying that since BJP is a national party, everybody knows who has more money. Congress’s Jatni MLA Suresh Routray too had attributed the better performance of the BJP and the BJD than Congress to the two ruling parties’ ‘cartloads of cash’ to buy votes.