BHUBANESWAR: With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing by-poll to three vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha on Saturday, hectic lobbying has started in the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for a berth in the Upper House.
Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik had assured several leaders a berth in the Rajya Sabha after denying them party tickets in the recently-concluded General Elections.
Prominent among these include former Lok Sabha Member from Bhubaneswar Prasanna Patsani and ex-MLA from Berhampur Ramesh Chandra Chau Patnaik.
BJD sources said tickets for the first two Rajya Sabha seats are likely to go to Patsani and Chau Patnaik.
Both the leaders did not revolt when they were denied tickets from their respective Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies from which they were winning for the last several times successively.
While Patsani had won from Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha five times, Chau Patnaik also represented Berhampur in the Assembly successively for five times since 1995.
Now it remains to be seen whether the BJD supremo keeps his promise and nominates the duo for the Upper House or gives tickets to some other leaders.
This apart, all eyes are on the leader who will be picked up for the third Rajya Sabha seat in view of the large number of aspirants in BJD.
Prominent among the aspirants include former Principal Accountant General Amar Patnaik and senior leaders who were defeated in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
Patnaik joined the ruling BJD after retirement and is now a spokesperson of the party.
Others eyeing for a Rajya Sabha berth include former Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik who unsuccessfully contested from Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat and two former ministers Maheswar Mohanty and Sanjay Dasburma.
While Mohanty was defeated from Puri Assembly seat, Dasburma lost from Bramhagiri.
Sources maintained that there are many other BJD leaders including former MP Rabindra Jena and ex-minister Pushpendra Singhdeo who lost the Lok Sabha polls from Balasore and Kalahandi seats respectively, who are also in the race.
The three vacancies came up after the resignation of BJD Rajya Sabha members Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Pratap Keshari Deb and Achyutanand Samant.
While Patnaik and Deb won from Khandapara and Aul respectively, Samant was elected from Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency.
The ECI has, however, decided not to hold an election to the Rajya Sabha seat which was vacated by Anubhav Mohanty as less than one year of his tenure is left.