Bhubaneswar: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday filed his nomination as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee for the forthcoming Rajya Sabah elections from Odisha.
Vaishnaw filed two sets of nomination papers in the presence of BJPs’ Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal, saffron party MLAs and senior leaders at the state Assembly building in Bhubaneswar.
The Railway Minister filed his nomination on the last day of filing papers for the election to the upper house of Parliament scheduled to be held on February 27.
Soon after filing the papers, the Union Minister thanked his party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him another chance to serve the state of Odisha from Rajya Sabha. “I pray before Lord Jagannath for more energy and motivation to serve Odisha even better. I will work uninterruptedly like the squirrel of Lord Ram and will not cease to work until Odisha becomes a developed state as envisioned by PM Modi,” said Vaishnaw.
The election of Vaishnaw to Rajya Sabha from Odisha has become a foregone conclusion with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) extending its support to his nomination as was the case during the former IAS officer’s election for the first term in 2019.
The BJD announced its support shortly after the BJP renominated Vaishnaw putting an end to suspense over the third candidate for Rajya Sabha from Odisha. However, no one from the regional party was present when Vaishnaw submitted his nomination papers to the returning officer at the assembly building.
Debashish Samantray and Subhasish Kuntia of BJD have already filed their nomination papers for the other two seats from the state.
The BJD has the required strength to win all three vacant RS seats, but BJP would need its support with only 22 MLAs in Odisha Assembly.
Notably, the elections are being held as the terms of three Rajya Sabha members from Odisha – Ashwini Vaishnaw and BJD leaders Prasant Nanda and Amar Patnaik will come to an end in April.
