Bhubaneswar, Feb. 17: The BJD is likely to consider former minister Ranendra Pratap Swain aka Raja’s claim for a party ticket for the Athgarh Assembly seat, where by-elections will be held on March 18.

BJD supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik today stated that Raja had carried out a lot of development work at Athgarh. However, he made it clear that the final decision will be taken after consulting senior party leaders.

Raja had failed to contest the last election after the returning officer rejected his nomination papers. He challenged this and recently won a verdict in the Supreme Court, which set aside the election at the Athgarh constituency. That fact that Naveen is now favourably inclined towards Raja became obvious when he went campaigning for his candidates in the panchayat polls in Athgarh. A senior BJD leaders said: “Raja is very much a party man. The party leadership will not disown him. In fact, we cannot afford to ignore him having already sustained so much damage.” Raja has also declared that he is a disciplined soldier of the party. He has professed his loyalty to the leadership.

The equation between him and BJD’s second-in-command Pyari Mohan Mohapatra has also improved and they are likely to become friendly again. The BJD sources are not even apprehensive about Raja creating any problems for the party. “We already have 103 MLAs. If he returns, he will be another. It will only add to our strength without in any way making him more important than others.” The party is also likely to take care of Ramesh Rout, Raja’s bete noire who had become close to both Naveen and Mohapatra.

“The party will not discard him. Ways will be found to rehabilitate him,” said a party source.