BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Pataik on Saturday announced the names of AU Singh Deo and Bhupinder Singh, both from western Odisha, as the ruling party's candidates for the two seats of Rajya Sabha from the State for which by-elections are scheduled to be held on July 3.
With the BJD commanding an overwhelming majority in the State legislature, no election would be needed for the RS seats as both its nominees are set sail though unopposed.
Singh Deo, a Doon schoolmate and close friend of Patnaik, had been elected to the Rajya Sabha in the elections held in March this year but had to forego the seat as Patnaik wanted him to contest in the last Assembly polls from his old Balangir constituency.
Singh Deo could have taken oath as a RS member and at the same time contested for the Assembly. But he was asked to give up his RS seat to lend seriousness to his Balangir fight in which he had to contest against veteran Congress leader Narasingha Mishra. Mishra, however, defeated Singh Deo and has now become leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. So, Naveen Patnaik obviously felt obliged to reward Singh Deo with an RS berth.
As for Bhupinder Singh, dubbed as a 'grand defector' in the State politics, Patnaik rewarded him for his act of switching over to the BJD close to the last general elections even though he was occupying the exalted position of leader of the Opposition.
Singh belonging to Kalahandi district, who was all along in the Congress and had been making scathing attacks on the Patnaik Government, joined the BJD leaving the Congress deeply demoralised on the eve of the elections. But Singh refrained from contesting in the general elections, apparently being promised by Patnaik of an RS seat.
The RS bypolls are necessitated by the resignations of the seats by Sashi Bhusan Behera and Rabi Narayan Mohapatra, who have now become MlAs after contesting in the last elections.
While Behera's RS term would have expired after two years, that of Mohapatra would have lasted for four more years. It is not known yet which of these slots would be allotted to Singh Deo and Singh, respectively.It may be noted that Naveen Patnaik recently sent cinema actor Anubhav Mohanty to the Rajya Sabha for a full six-year term in place of Singh Deo.