Former Congress MLA in Odisha, Debendra Sharma, representing the Aul assembly constituency from 2014 to 2019, has taken a significant step to support his daughter's candidacy in the upcoming Assembly elections. Struggling with the mounting expenses associated with the campaign, Sharma recently made the decision to sell a portion of his ancestral land in his native village.
The sale of five decimal homestead land reflects Sharma's commitment to ensuring his daughter's candidacy is adequately supported, despite facing financial challenges. He has expressed concerns over the lack of monetary assistance from the Congress party, attributing it to the freezing of party accounts by the Income Tax department.
What did the ex-MLA say?
"My daughter Dr. Debasmita Sharma (28), is contesting the polls from the constituency where both my father and I were previously elected as MLAs," he said, highlighting the financial strain on the family due to the heavy campaign spending by rival candidates, making it challenging to meet the necessary poll expenses.
Debasmita, following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, left her job as a government doctor to pursue a career in public service.
Sharma explained that the campaign funds provided by the party for his daughter were insufficient. "Consequently, faced with compelling circumstances, I made the difficult decision to sell a piece of our ancestral land in the village to generate additional resources for her campaign," he said.
Sharma hopeful of her daughter's victory
Despite being pitted against prominent opponents like Odisha minister Pratap Keshari Deb of BJD and BJP’s Krushna Chandra Panda, Sharma remains hopeful that voters will place their trust in his daughter. Debasmita was unavailable for comment due to her busy campaign schedule.
It should be noted here that simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha polls will be held in Odisha, starting May 13. The results of voting will be declared on June 2.
(With PTI inputs)
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