BJD announces candidates for 4 Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha
Naveen Patnaik, who is the president of the BJD, nominated Subhas Singh, Munna Khan, Sujit Kumar and Mamata Mahanta for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced the names of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates for the elections to four Rajya Sabha seats that are set to fall vacant next month.
Naveen Patnaik, who is the president of the BJD, nominated Subhas Singh, Munna Khan, Sujit Kumar and Mamata Mahanta for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Four of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha will fall vacant after the completion of tenure of three BJD lawmakers -- Anubhav Mohanty, Narendra Kumar Swain and Sarojini Hembram -- and Congress member Ranjib Biswal on April 2.
Subhas Singh has already resigned from the post of chairman of the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board.
Munna Khan, a former Janata Dal (JD) leader, was advisor to the Minorities Affairs department while Sujit Kumar was advisor to the Special Development Council. Mamata Mahanta is a BJD Mahila Wing member from Mayurbhanj district.
The BJD had last year supported Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Ashwini Vaishnav in the Rajya Sabha polls. The development came following "requests" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Naveen Patnaik had said.