Anubhav Mohanty and (above) AU Singh Deo

Bhubaneswar, May 16: With the BJD set to bag more than 116 Assembly seats, chief minister Naveen Patnaik is confident to get back all the four Rajya Sabha seats, which had been vacated by him just ahead of the Assembly polls.

Before the polls, Naveen had taken a risk and recalled his four Rajya Sabha members — Dillip Tirkey, A.U. Singh Deo, Rabi Narayan Mohapatra and Sashi Bhushan Behera — and fielded them as party’s candidates.

Mohapatra is contesting from the Ranpur Assembly constitunecy, Behera from the Jaydev Assembly segment and Singh Deo from the Balangir Assembly constituency. Tirkey has been fielded as candidate from the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat. While Singh Deo was defeated by his nearest rival Congress candidate, Tirkey is trailing behind from his nearest candidate Jual Oram by 10,000 votes. The other candidates — Mohapatra and Behera — are much ahead of their opponents.

While Naveen assured Odia film star Anubhav Mohanty a Rajya Sabha berth, now the contest is open for the three other Rajya Sabha seats. The leaders, who did not contest the Assembly or Lok Sabha elections, would now be hoping to land Rajya Sabha berths.

“Now, the big question is whether Naveen will re-nominate A.U. Singh Deo to the Rajya Sabha again or he will pass into oblivion. There are many aspirants for the Rajya Sabha berth,” said a senior BJD leader. Singh Deo happens to be the Doon schoolmate of Naveen and had agreed to contest the Assembly seat but reluctantly.

Many leaders, including former finance minister Prafulla Ghadei, former leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh who jumped to the BJD at the last moment but denied a ticket, are eyeing a Rajya Sabha berth.

BJD general secretary Narendra Swain, who is yet to be rewarded by the party, is also eyeing a Rajya Sabha berth. Besides, ace sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra, who despite Naveen’s support lost the Rajya Sabha election in February by a narrow margin to IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal, is also hopeful of getting a Rajya Sabha berth.

Naveen openly expressed his sorrow at the defeat of Mohapatra. However, under normal circumstances, the chief minister is expected to pick up a party member, that, too, a person with good credentials. He is also aware of the resentment within the party over promoting outsiders such as Mohapatra — which, towards the end of the last Rajya Sabha election, became an embarrassment for the party.