‘Prosperous’ Odisha party has poorest candidate
BHUBANESWAR: Trust a ‘prosperous’ party to field a penniless candidate. Jagabandhu Godangi has no property, not even a bank account, and lives off what his wife earns as a peon in a village primary school. That perhaps made him the best advertisement for Samrudha Odisha party in a state where crorepatis are dime a dozen.
Samrudha means prosperous in Odiya.
Godangi, 34, is the party’s candidate for Chitrakonda assembly constituency in the Maoist stronghold of Malkangiri district.
Odisha is going for simultaneous polls for 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats. Samrudha Odisha has fielded candidates for assembly polls mostly in southern Odisha. “I own nothing,” he told HT on phone while canvassing in a village 700-km southwest of Bhubaneswar.
One of the poorest candidates in Odisha — eight others have shown ‘zero assets’ — he lives with his wife and two children in a one-room house built on government land in Podaghat village.
How does Gondangi compete with more resourceful rivals? “The party gave me 20,000 for campaign and assured to give more. Besides, part of my wife’s salary also goes to my poll expenses,” said the tribal youth, who was a sarpanch from 2007-2012.
Godangi campaigns on his bicycle and loads it on a bus or passenger jeep to go to remote areas. “My supporters wait for me at predestined points and take me to villages for canvassing,” he said.
In 2009, Godangi had fought — and lost — the assembly elections on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. He had a motorcycle then, which he sold later to tide over a financial crisis.
Why is he contesting again when he has become poorer? “Because becoming a sarpanch made me addicted to politics,” he said, adding: “I want to become an MLA to ensure the government comes to these places. I hope the people will not disappoint me this time.”