Veteran Congress leader of Bastar division and former Parliamentarian Mankuram Sodhi accused the top party leadership of keeping him in dark on the allotment of ticker from Kondagaon by giving false assurances that it would be given to his son Shankar Sodhi, against whom the party preferred Mohan Markam, and said that he would withdraw resignation only if the party assures him reconsidering the allotment of ticket from the seat.
He lamented that there was hardly any place for devotion, service and toil of workers in the party. In his long political career he has been serving the party honestly and crossed many a milestone in the field of devotion. Only due to his selfless working he had won the Kondagaon seat even in the times of Emergency. He was not sad over the fact that his son was not given the ticket but felt angry only on the way they were kept in dark.
‘Had we were told in the beginning itself that Shankar was not being given the ticket, they would have remained silent but during my week long Delhi stay I was continuously being assured that ticket was being given to his son,’ the senior tribal leader said.On the question of meeting Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, he said that he had no chance to meet the duo while other leaders belonging to Chhattisgarh promised them regularly keeping them in dark.
Notably, after allotment of tickets for 17 constituencies including Kondagaon by Congress party, Mankuram Sodhi and his son Shankar Sodhi, two time MlA and minister as many times, and presently District Congress president, resigned from the party along with supporters on Friday creating flutter in political circles.Talking to newsmen at his Jagdalpur residence, the elder Sodhi claimed that defeat of his son both in parliamentary and Assembly polls was due to sabotage by our own party men. He also ruled out the allegation that electorate of Bastar and specially Kondagaon is now getting alienated from the Sodhi family.