The party names Amar Patnaik and Sasmit Patra for the remaining two seats
Bhubaneswar: It was a day complete with political drama and flip flops, especially by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, which saw the regional party shedding its ‘equidistance’ policy and openly supporting the saffron brigade in the latter’s quest for a Rajya Sabha seat from the state.
The ‘show’ started with a tweet by the BJP at 6.15 pm Friday claiming that Ashwini Vaishnaw was its party nominee for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha that are scheduled to go for by-polls July 5. The party tweeted, “The party has decided that Shri Ashwini Vaishnab will be Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for the upcoming by-polls to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha,”
Oblivious of the BJP tweet, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed the media at his residence, Naveen Niwas, at 6.40 and announced that his party had selected three names for Rajya Sabha by-poll. He announced that BJD IT cell head Amar Patnaik, party spokesperson Sasmit Patra and former Odisha cadre IAS officer Ashwini Vaishnaw would contest the by-poll for the three Rajya Sabha seats as BJD candidates.
However, when the Chief Minister realised the “faux pas”, he called the media to his residence again at 7.05 pm and offered a clarification. Changing his earlier statement, Naveen said, “I think there was some confusion about Ashwini Vaishnaw. The Prime Minister spoke to me, as did the Home Minister. Now, we will support the candidature of Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was private secretary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”
The latest announcement by the Chief Minister has not only taken everyone by surprise, but also created a political storm in the state. Despite the fact that the BJD has the requisite strength to win all the three Rajya Sabha seats that will go for by-poll July 5, the party has left one seat for BJP.
Moreover, till recently the BJD vowed on its “equidistance” policy, terming the Congress as “corrupt” and the BJD as “communal”. Therefore, many are wondering what had transpired between the BJD and the BJP that the Chief Minister chose to ally with the saffron brigade, despite winning a comfortable majority in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state.
Recently, Naveen had met the Prime Minister and also supported the BJP’s candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post. The regional party is also supporting Modi’s ‘One Nation One Election’ proposal. Hence, the recent move hardly comes as a surprise.
On the other hand, Naveen had promised former party MP Prasanna Patsani a berth in the Upper House of the Parliament, but Patsani’s name did not feature in the party’s list of nominees. The party’s decision has also disheartened former MLA and a strong aspirant for a Rajya Sabha seat, Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik.
The three RS seats from Odisha fell vacant due to resignations of Achyutananda Samanta, Pratap Keshari Deb and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik. While Deb and Patnaik have been elected to the 16th Assembly, Samanta was elected to the 17th Lok Sabha from the Kandhamal constituency.
Another RS member Anubhav Mohanty, who has been elected to Lok Sabha from Kendrapara, had also resigned from the Upper House. However, by-election for this seat will not be held now, as less than a year is left for the completion of the tenure, said sources.
The tenure of seats vacated by Samanta and Patnaik will end April 3, 2024, whereas the Upper House seat vacated by Deb will end July 1, 2022.
The last date for filing nomination papers for the by-poll is June 25, while scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on the next day (June 26). Polling for the vacated seats will be done July 5 between 9 am and 4 pm. The polled votes will be counted on the same day at 5 pm.
Who is Ashwini Kumar Vaishnaw?
This question is doing the rounds in the state’s political circle, as both BJD and BJP are ready to send him to the Upper House of Parliament from Odisha.
A 1994 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, Ashwini served as district Collector in Cuttack and Balasore and also held some other positions in Odisha government. He has served as private secretary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Ashwini resigned from civil service and joined the corporate world after acquiring an MBA from a foreign institution. Since then he was associated with various firms.
According to the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ashwini is an active director of Odisha-based mineral firms -Thriveni Pellets Private Limited (since November 13, 2017), Brahmani River Pellets Limited (since February 23, 2018) and a Gurgaon-based firm Adler Industrial Services Private Limited (since November 28, 2015). He was also served as a director of Kanad Networks Private Limited between September 18, 2018 and June 10, 2019.