Ahead of CAB, BJP attempts to humour BJD

The ruling BJP appears to be humouring Naveen Patnaik-led BJD ahead of the introduction of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 by withdrawing its candidate against the Odisha party in the election to the statutory board of AIIMS in Bhubaneswar.

One Rajya Sabha MP can be part of the statutory body of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar for which BJP's Ashwini Vaishnav and BJD's Amar Patnaik have filed nominations.

However, on Thursday, a day before the elections, sources said Vaishnav withdrew from the contest to enable Patnaik win the election unopposed.

Sources said Vaishnav wrote a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu expressing his intention to withdraw from the contest.

The BJD had earlier expressed reservations about the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 that provides citizenship to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. It's MP Barthruhari Mahtab had also submitted a dissent note when a Joint Committee of Parliament scrutinised the Bill, which lapsed at the dissolution of previous Lok Sabha.

While Amar Patnaik is slated to elected unopposed, elections to two statutory bodies in Coir Board and Central Silk Board will be held as there was no withdrawal of nominations.

For the single post in Coir Board, BJP's Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, AAP's Sushil Kumar Gupta and CPI(M)'s K Somaprasad have filed nominations. For the Central Silk Board, CPI(M)'s Jharna Das Baidya and AAP's Sanjay Singh are locking horns.