Bhubaneswar| In a bid to pacify the resentment over denial of tickets to some leaders in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, BJD chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday publicly announced a Rajya Sabha berth for Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik.
The chief minister also called upon partymen to work together after sensing the mood of the Berhampur MLA’s supporters.
“Work together, Chayu Babu will go to the Rajya Saba,” Patnaik said during his visit to Ganjam district in the state.
He had gone to the district headquarters to file his nomination papers from Hinjili segment for the upcoming state assembly elections.
When Naveen Patnaik reached the town, a large number of supporters of the Berhampur MLA raised the slogan of “Naveen Patnaik Zindabad”.
They urged the chief minister to reconsider the case of Chyau Patnaik, who has been elected to the Berhampur assembly segment five times in a row since 1995.
Recently, the BJD leadership denied ticket to Chyau Patnaik and named Bikram Kumar Panda as the party candidate from the Berhampur assembly seat.
Though Chyau Patnaik maintained his calm, his supporters drew attention of the chief minister, forcing him to publicly announce that the MLA will be sent to the Rajya Sabha.
The chief minister’s announcement pacified the MLA’s supporters.
Meanwhile, at least four sitting MLAs and three sitting MPs have resigned from the party after being denied BJD ticket for the 2019 polls.
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