Raghunath Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar Jan. 23: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today announced his party’s support to renowned sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra as the BJD’s fourth candidate for Rajya Sabha.

The announcement came after the 69-year-old Mohapatra, a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, met him at Naveen Nivas.

“I have no other interest but to work to promoting the art and culture of the state,” Mohapatra said.

“I would be happy if all the parties support my candidature for the Rajya Sabha. I have not yet met them,” he said. The BJD, which has a strength of 108 in the 147-member Assembly, is certain to win three Rajya Sabha seats as a candidate requires 30 first preference votes. It will have 18 surplus votes for the fourth seat.

To win the fourth seat, Mohapatra will have to secure the support of the Congress, which has 27 seats in the Assembly. The BJP has six MLAs.

Asked whether the party would support Mohapatra, Pradesh Congress Committee president Jaydev Jena said: “It was Naveen Patnaik, who made the announcement. We have nothing to do with it. Ours is an all-India party. The party will take a call on it.”

BJP national general secretary Dharmendra Pradhan said: “We are open to it. But, the sculptor should discuss this with our party’s state unit president. It cannot work out with just Naveen announcing it.”

The BJP will support an Independent candidate because it just has six MLAs and is not in a position to file the nomination papers for one candidate. However, the party could play a decisive role in determining the fate of the fourth candidate.

Hunt for candidates

The Pradesh Congress Committee has begun its search for suitable candidates for all of the state’s 21 Lok Sabha seats.

The committee is meeting tomorrow to finalise names for the Lok Sabha seats. For each Lok sabha seat, the committee will send names of three probable candidates to the All India Congress Committee.

In its electoral exercise, the BJP today held a youth convention here and decided that steps would be taken to integrate more youths to the party fold.

Of the state’s 21 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress has six members, the BJD 14 and the CPI one.