BJD announces support for candidature of BJP's Ashwini Vaishnaw in Rajya Sabha polls in Odisha
BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD, on Wednesday, extended support to railway minister and BJP candidate Ashwini Vaishnaw’s candidature for the third Rajya Sabha seat in Odisha. Vaishnaw was elected to the Upper House of Parliament with the BJD's support in 2019.
“Biju Janata Dal will support the candidature of Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister, Railways, Communication and Information and Technology in the ensuing election to Rajya Sabha-2024, for the larger interest of State’s Railways and Telecom Development,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a release after the BJP announced Vaishnaw’s candidature.
Vaishnaw will file his nomination papers on Thursday. BJP MLAs have already started arriving in the capital city to file nomination papers for the party candidate.
Meanwhile, Vaishnaw arrived on a two-day visit to Bhubaneswar today. He is scheduled to visit the BJP state headquarters later in the day and review railway projects. The railway minister has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for renominating him for Rajya Sabha.
"I am a disciplined worker of Bharatiya Janata Party. The party takes all decisions of my public life. I am grateful to PM Narendra Modi for giving me the opportunity to serve again," he said.
BJD candidates Debashish Samantray and Subhasish Kuntia have already filed their nomination papers for the other two seats from the state. According to the official notification, the last date for filing of nomination is February 15 and the last date for withdrawal is February 20.
The polling will be held on February 27 between 9 am and 4 pm. The counting of votes will be conducted at 5 pm the same day.
