Bhubaneswar: History repeated in Odisha for bureaucrat turned politician Ashwini Vaishnaw, who all set to be re-elected to Rajya Sabha from the State for second time with a full open heart support from the Governing BJD.
Shri Vaishanw filed his nomination papers for the ensuing elections to three Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha, which is scheduled to be held on February 27.
The BJP leader and Union Minister submitted his nomination papers to the Returning Officer here at Assembly in presence of State BJP President Manmohan Samal, BJP Chief Whip Mohan Majhi, Pitambar Acharaya, party MLAs including Nauri Naik, Kusum Tete and Subash Panigrahi.
However, no BJD leader was present during the filing of nomination even though the party has announced support for Shri Vaishnaw.
In 2019, Shri Vaishnaw was elected to the Upper House as BJP candidate with the help of BJD. At that time, BJD leaders remained present during the filing of nomination. This time, perhaps, as elections are approaching, the ruling party decided to stay away from attending the event.
As the BJD has announced its support for Shri Vaishnaw, the BJP nominee is all set to be reelected to Rajya Sabha from Odisha.
The Union Railway Minister, who hails from Rajasthan, was an IAS officer serving as Collector of Cuttack and Balasore districts in Odisha. The 1994-batch IAS officer had worked till 2003.
He quit the IAS job in 2010. He joined the BJP in 2019 and then directly elected to RS and then became Cabinet Minister with two powerful portfolios.
Perhaps for the first time in Indian history, a bureaucrat turned politician has been given such due importance at Central Level.