BHUBANESWAR: A meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Odisha BJP leaders at the party’s state office here on Friday after his day-long schedule has triggered intense political speculation over the fourth seat in the upcoming Rajya Sabha election in the state.
The presence of senior BJP leader Dilip Ray, who also filed nomination as an Independent candidate, set the political circles abuzz with talks of strategic manoeuvring to secure the seat. Ray’s rare visit to the BJP state headquarters, where he met Shah, added to the intrigue surrounding the contest.
As none of the major parties: the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Biju Janata Dal and the Congress, has sufficient numbers in the Assembly to win the fourth seat single-handedly, Ray’s meeting with Shah, considered to be the Chanakya of India politics, has given rise to speculation that the master strategist could be working behind the scenes to secure a win in favour of Ray, the Independent candidate.
The BJP currently holds the highest number of MLAs capable of giving third preference votes at 22, followed by the BJD with 18. The Congress with 14 MLAs has made a strategic partnership with the regional party (which has been maintaining equi-distance from the BJP and Congress till date) to elect Dr Datteswar Hota whose candidature was promoted by the grand old party. Although Ray acknowledged discussing the Rajya Sabha election with Shah, he maintained that he has appealed to all Assembly members to vote according to their conscience.
However, state BJP president Manmohan Samal downplayed the political significance of the meeting, stating that the discussions largely revolved around organisational matters and governance issues.
Bargarh MP Pradeep Purohit said the deliberations focused on making governance more people-centric. At the same time, he acknowledged that the Rajya Sabha election, particularly the prospects of Dilip Ray’s victory, also figured in the discussion.
Purohit claimed that Ray enjoys tremendous goodwill across party lines and that some opposition MLAs might support him as they are dissatisfied with their own leadership and want to maintain cordial relations with the government for the development of their constituencies.
Echoing similar sentiments, BJP spokesperson Surath Biswal said winning the fourth Rajya Sabha seat was a key point of discussion during the meeting.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, along with several ministers, MLAs, state BJP office-bearers and party in-charges also attended the meeting. Before leaving for New Delhi, Shah partook of ‘mahaprasad’ of Lord Jagannath at the BJP state office.