Bhubaneswar, March 2 The state capital of Odisha witnessed intense political activity on Monday ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, with the ruling BJP and opposition Congress holding separate meetings with their MLAs, while the BJD-sponsored "common" candidate, urologist Datteswar Hota, launched his campaign.
The ruling BJP is expected to win two seats in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections, and the opposition BJD is certain to win one, while all eyes are on the fourth seat, where Hota was fielded by the Naveen Patnaik-led party and supported by the Congress. The BJP has yet to announce its candidates.
The BJP MLAs held a meeting at Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi's official residence as preparations for the RS polls entered the final phase, with the last date for filing nominations being March 5. Apart from the MLAs, the meeting was also attended by Deputy CM Pravati Parida, state party president Momohan Samal, and others.
"We had a detailed discussion on the RS polls to formulate a strategy. The party's Parliamentary Board will decide on the candidates," said BJP MLA Ashok Mohanty after the meeting.
At the meeting, the saffron party legislators signed the nomination papers as proposers for three potential candidates, signaling that the party may field three candidates even though it has the numbers to ensure the victory of two candidates.
The BJP MLAs were asked to be present in the assembly on March 5 when the party candidates file their nomination papers, sources said.
According to the Rajya Sabha arithmetic for the state, one candidate needs at least 30 first preference votes to win a seat. The BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three Independents, totaling 82 MLAs. Therefore, the party can easily secure two seats by getting 60 first preference votes, with an additional 22 votes.
"Our party will field three candidates, and we are confident of winning them," said Santosh Khatua, another BJP MLA, who attended the meeting.
The victory of the third candidate would likely involve cross-voting or defections from other parties.
Senior BJP leaders, including state president Manmohan Samal, remained silent on the number of candidates and the strategy to win the polls. "Our Parliamentary Board will take the final decision," Samal told reporters.
The Congress Legislature Party also held a meeting chaired by its leader Rama Chandra Kadam at a hotel here, where Hota appealed to all the MLAs to support him in the polls.
"We welcomed Dr. Hota at the CLP meeting, and he appealed to all to support his candidature," said OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das.
Twelve of the 14 Congress MLAs attended the meeting. The two absentees are Ramesh Jena and Sofia Firdous. "They are on their way to the meeting and have given their consent to attend according to the CLP decision," said senior MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati.
"I requested all the Congress MLAs to support my candidature. As a profession, I am a doctor. If I am elected as a Member of the Rajya Sabha, I will certainly serve the people of the state," Hota told reporters after meeting the Congress MLAs.
Hota also stated that he would personally meet each Congress MLA, including Jena and Firdous, to seek their support.
Apart from the 18 surplus votes of the BJD, Hota expects to receive the support of 14 Congress MLAs and one lawmaker from the CPI(M). Together, he expects to garner 33 votes, which is more than the 30 first preference votes required to win the polls.
In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJD has 48 MLAs after suspending two of its members in January. After electing its first candidate, Dr. Santrup Misra, the BJD will have 18 surplus votes, which are expected to go in favor of Hota.
The Rajya Sabha election is being held as four MPs from Odisha are scheduled to retire on April 2. The retiring members are Niranjan Bishi and Munna Khan of the BJD, and Sujeet Kumar and Mamata Mohanta of the BJP.