With a little help from BJD, Ashwini Vaishnaw seeks Rajya Sabha renomination from Odisha

This is akin to his first stint, when he got elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha in June 2019 despite the BJP not having adequate strength in the state assembly.

The development comes against the backdrop of senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi targeting the BJD and BJP for “running a partnership government in Odisha”.

The ruling BJD, despite having the numbers, fielded only two candidates – former MLA Debashish Samantaray and young face Subhashis Khuntia – for the Rajya Sabha.

“There is no need for an election if there are only three candidates in the fray. The BJP central leadership must have been consulted with the BJD before the announcement,” said a senior BJP leader from the state.

In June 2019, the BJD had announced to extend support to Vaishnaw, a former IAS officer, following a telephone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Odisha Chief Minister Patnaik.

Originally a native of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Vaishnaw’s name was also speculated for a Lok Sabha seat from Odisha. During his earlier days as an IAS officer, he had served as district collector of Balasore and Cuttack.

Vaishnaw is scheduled to reach the Odisha BJP headquarters at Bhubaneswar by noon while the state BJP MLAs have been asked to rush to the state capital as they will sign his paper as proposers.