Lobbying hots up in Odisha's BJD for bypoll to three RS seats

With the Election Commission announcing July 5 as the date for conducting by-polls to three Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha, hectic lobbying was underway in the ruling Biju Janata Dal, headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, sources in the party said.

Among the leaders vying for a Rajya Sabha ticket were former Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani, former Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik, former bureaucrat Amar Patnaik, and former Balasore MP Rabinda Jena, who lost the just- concluded polls.

Senior BJP leader Prafulla Ghadai, who was expelled in 2014 and re-inducted in the run-up to the polls, was also one of the hopefuls, the sources said.

Patsani, the former parliamentarian from Bhubaneswar, said, "I was assured a Rajya Sabha berth after being denied a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections. I have full faith in the chief minister. He will make me a candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls."