Rajya Sabha Polls: BJP renominates Ashwini Vaishnaw, BJD extends support again

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: BJP on Wednesday released another list of five candidates for upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, fielding Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw from Odisha and L Muruan from Madhya Pradesh.

The election of Vaishnaw to Rajya Sabha from Odisha is now a foregone conclusion with BJD extending its support to his nomination as was the case during the former IAS officer’s election for the first term in 2019.

“Biju Janata Dal will support the candidature of Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister, Railways, Communication and Information and Technology, for the larger interest of State’s Railways and Telecom Development in the ensuing Election to Rajya Sabha – 2024,” the regional party said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the BJP renominated Vaishnaw putting an end to suspense over the third candidate for Rajya Sabha from Odisha. Debashish Samantray and Subhasish Kuntia of BJD have already filed their nomination papers for the other two seats from the state.

The BJD has the required strength to win all three vacant RS seats, but BJP would need its support with only 22 MLAs in Odisha Assembly.

Notably, Odisha got the highest railway allocations during Vaishnaw’s tenure. Cuttack station modernisation is going on with Rs.303 crore while Rs.197 crore has been sanctioned for Balasore station. Puri railway station is also being developed into a world-class facility. Vande Bharat Express was also started from Puri to Howrah with him at the helm. Vaishnaw has also sanctioned 5G service and 7,000 mobile towers for the State.

On Sunday, BJP had named 14 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including former Union minister R P N Singh and Sudhanshu Trivedi – the only outgoing MP renominated by the party so far. It later named two more candidates from Rajasthan, dropping outgoing MP and Union minister Bhupender Yadav, who is likely to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.