BHUBANESWAR: The State BJP is likely to abstain in the March 30 Rajya Sabha polls although a decision in this regard is yet to be taken formally. A senior leader of the party said the decision would be announced on Sunday. If the BJP decides to abstain, this will pave the way for the victory for AV Swamy whose name was floated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday as the third (Independent) candidate. The State NCP has decided to extend support to Swamy.NCP TO EXTEND SUPPORT“The State NCP has decided to support Swamy in the Rajya Sabha polls as per the instructions of the national leadership,” Leader of the NCP Legislature Party Amar Prasad Satpathy told this paper. The NCP has four members in the Assembly. The CPI, another electoral ally of the BJD, having a lone member, is yet to take a decision in this regard. Naveen had said the BJD did not have the assurance of support from the NCP and the CPI, its two supporting parties in the Assembly, while announcing that the party would not field a third candidate. Satpathy, however, said the NCP is yet to announce its support as the BJD has not sought any. Stating that the NCP is still a supporting party of the BJD in the Assembly, he said the party would extend support when asked for it. He said as the party does not have the numbers to propose the name of a candidate, it will extend support to a candidate who will take up State issues in an effective manner. The issue was discussed at the meeting of the NCP Legislature Party held here on Saturday. If the BJP decides to abstain and the NCP supports Swamy, he will have 34 assured first preference votes including that of an Independent supporting the BJD in the Assembly. The Congress has 27 members and support of an Independent. It is yet to be clear which way the votes of Jitu Patnaik and George Tirkey, two other Independents, will go. Meanwhile, 22 forms for Rajya Sabha candidature have been taken from the Assembly. Those who have taken the forms are Prafulla Kar, Saroj Kumar Sahu of the BJD (three forms), Bikram Keshari Burma (former MLA), Mamata Samantray, Dillip Dasburma, KR Dash and K Shyam Babu Subuddhi. The others are Ramchandra Nayak, Krutibas Patra, Upendra Nath Das, Jitu Patnaik (MLA), retired IAS officer Prasanna Mishra, Sanjay Samantray, Dinabandhu Maharana, Hara Prasad Dash, Ganeswar Mishra, Tara Ranjan Patnaik, Manas Ranjan Patnaik, Ramesh Chandra Mohanty and Sukanti Priya Patnaik, former V-C of Fakir Mohan University.
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