By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 21, 2019: Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik on Friday sprung surprise in the political circle by lending party’s support to former IAS officer Ashwini Vaishnav, a BJP candidate for Rajya Sabha.

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. Hence, its decision to support a candidate of the saffron party comes as a surprise.

Patnaik, who returned to power for a record fifth term last month, clearly is drawing closer to the BJP, notwithstanding the fact that a month ago, he had led the BJD’s bitter electoral contest against the saffron party.

Besides, Patnaik announced his party’s IT cell head and spokesperson Amar Patnaik and another spokesperson Sasmit Patra as the two BJD candidates.

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. While 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.

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.