Bhubaneswar: Voices of dissent surfaced within the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday over Rajya Sabha tickets to Ama Odisha chief Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, KIIT and KISS founder Achyuta Samanta and party spokesperson Prashanta Nanda.
Senior BJD leader and former State Women’s Commission chairperson, Jyoti Panigrahi today expressed her displeasure over Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's candidate selection for the House of Elders.
"I was also expecting a Rajya Sabha ticket based on my credibility. It was late Biju babu who took me into politics as he had confidence in me and my work. None of the three shortlisted candidates from western Odisha were nominated. We have been ignored," she alleged.
Development works in western Odisha have taken a back seat due to such neglect, she alleged.
However, Handloom Minister and Attabira MLA Snehangini Chhuria on the other hand said that the decision taken by the CM is in the very interest of the people of the state.
"The CM takes decisions (over RS candidate) taking into account the interest of the state and nominates only those people who can raise Odisha's demands in the Parliament. We respect his decision," she added.
Elections to three RS seats from Odisha will be held as tenure of Hockey star Dilip Tirkey, A U Singh Deo and A V Swami is ending in April. The election is scheduled to be held on March 23.