BJD makes names of its RS nominees public

Bhubaneswar: Putting speculations to rest, BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday named a woman from the backward community, a minority face, an Oxford and Harvard alumni and a labour union leader as the party’s candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled on March 26.
He named Mamata Mahanta, Munna Khan, Sujeet Kumar and Subash Singh as candidates. All the four are believed to have been rewarded for their loyalty towards the party while Naveen has also taken into account regional representation while choosing candidates, said political observers.
While Khan is from southern region (Nabarangpur), Mamata hails from North Odisha (Mayurbhanj). Singh and Kumar represent coastal (Cuttack) and western region (Kalahandi) respectively. As expected, candidates defeated in the 2019 elections have not been nominated.
Selection of Khan, a minority face for the upper house, is believed to be Naveen’s well-thought out strategy after his party was dubbed as anti-Muslim for supporting the citizenship amendment legislation in Parliament. Days after the citizenship bill was passed in Parliament, a Muslim delegation met Naveen in December expressing apprehensions about the law. A rally was also organized in the city against the citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) following which Naveen announced that his party would not support NRC.
A film star-turned-politician, Khan is associated with the regional party since its inception. Khan was recently appointed as advisor of the SC/ST development and minority affairs department. “I have been associated with the Biju Pariwar even before BJD was formed. I have performed the duties assigned to me by the leader and never crossed any limit,” said Khan.
With a MBA degree from the Oxford University and masters in public administration from Harvard University, Kumar had a key role in shaping the party’s strategy over the years. He was looking after the BJD organisation in Kalahandi and Nuapada districts during the last election. He was posted as advisor, special development councils, in the rank of chief secretary after BJD formed the government for the fifth time in 2019.
With his government’s focus on backward communities, Naveen chose Mamata, a grassroot BJD worker for the Rajya Sabha berth. She belongs to the Kudumi community. “Our chief minister has always emphasized on empowerment of women. I will continue to work for welfare of rural women,” Mamata said.
Similarly, Singh is a popular labour union leader. He had joined BJD before 2014 general election and played a significant role in garnering support from various trade unions for BJD. Heading the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board since 2014, Singh resigned from the post following his nomination to the upper house.
All the four leaders, who met Naveen at his residence here, said they will file nomination papers on March 11. Though BJD is set to win three seats, no party in the assembly has the absolute majority to win the fourth seat as a candidate requires support of at least 30 MLAs to win. “We will see what has to be done,” said Naveen, when asked as to how they will manage numbers for the fourth seat.
The BJP with 23 MLAs in the assembly is yet to take a call whether the party will field a candidate while Congress with only nine MLAs does not have the requisite number to field a candidate. If Congress abstains from voting and BJD manages to get support of the lone independent candidate, it will favour the party in case BJP fields a candidate.