Rajya Sabha Polls: Will Naveen Keep His Promise?

Bhubaneswar: Former Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patasani and ex-MLA of Berhampur Ramesh Chandra Chaupatnaik of the BJD are leading the race of probables for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats, for which election will be held on July 5.

BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had assured these two leaders a berth in the Rajya Sabha after they were denied tickets in the recently-concluded elections to nip any revolt in bud. Patasani and Chaupatnaik had been winning from their respective constituencies for five consecutive terms.

Now, it remains to be seen if the BJD supremo keeps his promise and nominates the duo for the Upper House.

“The Chief Minister is true to his word. He had announced that he would send me to Rajya Sabha after I was denied a party ticket to contest Lok Sabha. But I am yet to receive any offer yet,” said Patasani.

Several other names like former bureaucrat-turned-politician Amar Patnaik and senior leaders Pushpendra Singhdeo and Sanjay Das Burma, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 twin polls, are doing the rounds. Prafulla Ghadai, who was taken back to the party in the run up to the polls after being expelled in 2014, is also being talked about.

The arithmetic is in favour of the BJD and it is a foregone conclusion that all three party nominees will win since it has 111 MLAs in the Odisha Assembly and each would need 37 to 38 of them to support their candidature.

The three seats feel vacant following the resignation of Achyutananda Samanta, Pratap Keshari Deb and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who won the recently held general and assembly elections. While Samanta won from Khandhamal Lok Sabha seat, while Soumya and Deb were elected from Khandapara and Aul assembly seats, respectively.

The Election Commission, however, decided not to hold election to the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by Anubhav Mohanty, who won from Kendrapada Lok Sabha seat, since less than a year of his tenure is left.