OdishaPlus Bureau
With the Naveen Patnaik Government firmly in saddles for the fifth time having returned 112 MLAs, the race has now begun for the Rajya Sabha posts.The selection this time round has become knotty because a number of big shots – particularly the youth brigade – have lost the elections. Also, many of the veterans in the party have been excluded from the Council of Ministers. These veterans are known to be close confidantes of Naveen and have an important say in party matters.
Discontenetment
While the contest for a seat in upper house of Parliament has become vital, there are attempts to fill up various posts in corporations as well as the party. Appaprently; Naveen doesn’t want to displease the ones who had shown their potency in the previous government and also those who had successfully handled the party affairs. What’s more, in the run up to the assembly elections Naveen had assured quite a number of ex- MLAs /ex-MPs of a seat in the Rajya Sabha.
Lest discontentment goes out of hand, the Chief Minister wants to accomplish these fringe appointments sooner than later. Seemingly, a big exercise is underway to fill the new vacancies.
Healing Touch
Among those who need to be immediately rehabilitated is Kalikesh Singhdeo, elder son of AU Singhdeo – Naveen’s all-time buddy. Kalikesh and his brother have lost the elections – the former in Lok Sabha and the latter in Vidhan Sabha.So also many leaders – who were ministers in the previous government and are influential in the party – need to be accommodated.
Naveen doesn’t usually reveal his mind when it comes to political appointments and he always tries to spring a surprise. This time too he may throw a surprise while making known his choices.
While there is a churn going on in the party about the possible reasons for the rout of veterans, the contenders for Rajya Sabha are a crowd.There are many prominent losses of the party in 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha : Maheswar Mohanty, Debashis Samantaray,Prasanna Acharya,Sanjay Dasburma, Rabindra Jena, Arup Patnaik and Nalini Pradhan.
Confirmed Berth
In the assembly elections ,four Rajya Sabha members have won while two have lost. Consequently, there are four Rajya Sabha vacancies – those to be vacated by Anubhav Mohanty,Achyut Samant, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Pratap Deb.
The big challenge for Naveen’s managers is who to house and who to put down. Naveen had personally assured one RS seat each to ex-Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra ChyauPatnaik and ex-Bhubaneswar MP Dr. Prasanna Patasani.The third contender for RS seat is ex-AG Amar Patnaik who had toiled hard for the party during elections. The remaining seat has many contenders – particularly those who have lost the elections.
Wait-List
Naveen may choose to send well-informed and senior leaders to the Rajya Sabha. If that happens, those who couldn’t win the assembly elections will be accommodated in corporations and other profitable institutions. Besides, they will be housed in party posts. Even for these posts, the wait list is big enough to dispose off smoothly.
If there are losers in the assembly elections , there are winners too who can’t remain as mere legislators. Among these lucky winners are Prafulla Samal, Nrusingh Sahu,Badri Narayan Patra,Usha Devi, Shasi Bhusan Behera,Debi Prasda Mishra , Rohit Pujari, Amar Prasad Satpathy and Sarada Nayak.
The nagging question is : Naveen doesn’t usually reveal his mind when it comes to political appointments and he always tries to spring a surprise. This time too he may throw a surprise while making known his choices.