Bhubaneswar: When Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik announced the names of the three BJD candidates for the Rajya Sabha bypolls on Friday evening, it turned into an occasion for a massive political surprise and intrigue in the state.
The wily Patnaik, who returned to power for a record fifth term last month, not only conveniently broke the promises he had made to two veteran party colleagues but he also gave ample impressions of drawing closer to the BJP, which is currently the main opposition party in Odisha. Just a month ago, Patnaik had led the BJD’s bitter electoral contest against the saffron party just a month ago.
Patnaik announced his party’s IT cell head and spokesperson Amar Patnaik and another spokesperson Sasmit Patra as the two BJD candidates. The third, former IAS officer Ashwini Vaishnav, is a BJP candidate who will have the BJD’s support.
Many in both the BJD and the BJP found it hard to believe that Patnaik named two leaders from his party for the two vacant Rajya Sabha berths and that he stated the BJD would support a BJP candidate for the third vacant seat.
The BJD had fielded as many as six of its serving Rajya Sabha members in the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in a gamble that yielded mixed results. Two of them lost the polls and continue in the Upper House. Two others got elected to the Lok Sabha, while the remaining two got elected to the state Assembly. Bypolls for three of the four vacant seats will be held on July 5.
With more than a two-third majority in the Assembly, the BJD is clearly in a position to win all the three Rajya Sabha seats for itself. So its decision to support a candidate of the saffron party came as a surprise to many in Odisha.
But the manner in which Patnaik first announced the names of the three leaders as BJD candidates and then provided a clarification led to intrigue.
“Candidates for the Rajya Sabha of the Biju Janata Dal are Amar Patnaik, head of the Biju Janta Dal’s IT cell; Sasmit Patra, BJD spokesperson; and Ashwini Vaishnav, an IAS officer from Odisha, who was private secretary to Mr [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee when he was prime minister and served Odisha very well,” said Patnaik in his first statement.
Matters turned difficult for the BJD immediately when his aides were alerted to a tweet posted by the BJP earlier in the day in which it had said, “The party has decided that Shri Ashwini Baishnab will be Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for the upcoming bypolls to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha.”
So Patnaik was forced to appear before the media a few minutes later and provide a clarification. “I think there was some confusion about Vaishnav. The prime minister spoke to me, as did the home minister. We will support the candidature of Ashwini Vaishnav, who was private secretary to Mr Vajpayee when he was prime minister,” he said.
By announcing the three names, Patnaik broke the promises made to his party’s five-term Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani and five-term Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik. The two leaders were denied party tickets for the April-May polls with the promise that they would be nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
While the chief minister had announced in public that he would send 76-year-old Chyau Patnaik to the Upper House, Patsani, who is a founder-member of the BJD and currently its vice-president, had recently said that he had been given the same promise. An eminent writer and orator, the 73-year-old Patsani has authored 60 books.
Neither Chyau Patnaik nor Patsani has spoken so far about being sidelined beyond expectations. More than the trouble that may arise from their comments – if they speak at all – BJD leaders say it is the matter of supporting a BJP leader for a Rajya Sabha seat that they are more concerned about right now.