As most expected, Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced party spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb as the ruling party’s candidate for Rajya Sabha by-election scheduled on May 25.
Also as expected, Patnaik too declared former Finance Minister Pradip Amat as the party’s nominee for the State Assembly Speaker election to be held on May 16.
In view of the BJD’s huge majority in the Assembly, Deb and Amat are set to be elected almost uncontested.
The Parliament’s Upper House seat from Odisha has fallen vacant following resignation of Bishnu Charan Das on March 21 this year. His term of office would have ended on July 1, 2022.
Similarly, Niranjan Pujari tendered his resignation as the Assembly Speaker on May 5 and was subsequently inducted into the reshuffled Ministry as a Cabinet member.