Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday said his Government’s fight for Special Category State (SCS) status for Odisha will continue till the demand is conceded by the Centre. Patnaik said this after the Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) three candidates for Rajya Sabha elections filed their nomination papers on the day.
He said all BJD Parliamentarians would raise their voices for SCS status for Odisha in both lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Patnaik’s reiteration of the SCS tag for Odisha assumes particular significance in view of a similar demand by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Government for Andhra Pradesh, on the issue of which the TDP is set to quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
BJD Rajya Sabha nominees Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Achyuta Samanta and Prashant Nanda filed their nomination papers with Returning Officer Rajesh Prabhakar Patil at the State Assembly Secretariat in the presence of party supremo and CM Naveen Patnaik.
The polling for the elections is scheduled to be held on March 23. With the BJD’s thumping majority of 118 members in the 147-seat State Assembly, all its three nominees are set to win the elections.
“I am sure that all the three BJD candidates will speak strongly for the interests of Odisha in the Rajya Sabha,” Naveen Patnaik told reporters.