Lobby intensifies in ruling BJD for RS poll tickets

With polls to four Rajya Sabha seats of Odisha set to be held next month -- the notification for three of which was issued by the Assembly secretariat on May 24 and one on Thursday -- hectic lobby within the ruling BJD to secure a ticket for the elections is underway.

Sources in the BJD said that the party, which has 113 MLAs in the 147-member Assembly, is likely to capture all four seats, as the opposition BJP and the Congress are expected to keep away from the contest.

Around 40 aspirants in the state's ruling camp are currently making all-out efforts to grab a BJD ticket, which might be a direct pass to the Upper House of Parliament.

Polls to three seats are scheduled to be held on June 10, as the tenure of MPs Nekkanti Bhaskar Rao, Prasanna Acharya and Sasmit Patra ends on July 1, and bypoll to one seat -- vacated by BJD's Subhas Singh after being elected as the Cuttack Municipal Corporation mayor – is scheduled on June 13.

Voting will be conducted from 9 am to 4 pm on both the dates, and the counting process will be held the same day as the elections.

A BJD leader said on the condition of anonymity that Patra, younger than many of his peers, might be accorded a second tenure in Rajya Sabha by party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

He also said that Patnaik, who recently fielded quite a few women in panchayat and urban polls, might think of doing something similar for the Upper House polls.

A recent remark BJD vice-president Usha Devi has added fuel to the speculation.

''The party fielded women in large numbers in panchayat and urban local body elections. It won't be surprising if the BJD president selects women for the vacant (Rajya Sabha) seats,'' Devi said.

BJD insiders said the name of Pradeep Majhi, a tribal leader from the state's southern region who quit the Congress and joined the BJD ahead of panchayat polls, is also doing the rounds.

Last time, Patnaik had allotted seats to its leaders keeping in mind the clout they enjoyed in different parts of the state -- Acharya in the west, Rao in the south, Patra and Singh from the coastal belt.

This time, too, Patnaik may adopt the same policy which choosing candidates, they added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)