Bhubaneswar, Feb 15 (FN Agency) Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw accompanied by several BJP leaders, filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha on Thursday. Accompanied by state BJP unit president Manmohan Samal and 13 party MLAs, besides other senior party leaders, Vaishnaw went to the Odisha Legislative Assembly and filed his nomination papers at 1105 hours as a BJP candidate on the last day of filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections. The Union Railway Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reposing faith in him and allowing him to serve the people of the country again. He is the third candidate to file a nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat in Odisha. Earlier, on Tuesday, former BJD MLA Debashish Samantaray and Biju Yuva Janata Dal Vice President Subhasish Khuntia filed their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha seats.
Although the ruling BJD has supported the candidature of the Union Railways minister, none of the BJD MLAs or leaders were present in the Assembly when Vaishnaw filed his nomination papers. On Monday, BJD President and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that his party would support the candidature of Vaishnaw in the greater interest of the state’s development in the railway and telecom sectors. In 1999, the ruling BJD also supported the candidature of Ashwini Vaishnaw, who then filed his nomination as a BJP candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat in Odisha. The terms of Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prashant Nanda, and Amar Pattnaik, who were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha, will expire in April 2024. Going by the strength of the ruling BJD in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, it will be a foregone conclusion that all three candidates will be elected to the Upper House. In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJD has 114 members, followed by the BJP (22), Congress (9), CPM, and Independents (one each).