Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, which has the numbers to win all the three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha in the by-election to the upper House, on Friday declared support to a BJP-selected candidate for one of the berths following a request from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The move was further indication of the two parties inching closer after the Odisha chief minister supported Modi’s plan for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The BJP, which has 23 members in the 147-member Assembly, announced the name of Ashwani Vaishnav, former IAS officer and private secretary to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as its candidate for the July 5 polls. Naveen agreed to support Vaishnav, accepting the request of Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

However there was some drama over the choice of nominees. In the evening, Naveen had announced the names of Sasmit Patra (BJD spokesperson), Amar Patnaik (party’s IT cell chief and former accountant-general) and Vaishnav as the candidates from Odisha.

But there was confusion when the BJP tweeted after Naveen’s media conference that the party had “decided” that Vaishnav would be its candidate. As Vaishnav is not a member of any party, it was not clear who he would be representing in the Rajya Sabha.

Later, Naveen held another media conference to announce that the BJP had nominated Vaishnav and the BJD would support him.

“There has been some confusion about Ashwani Vaishnav. The Prime Minister spoke to me, as did the home minister (Shah). We will support the candidature of Vaishnav, private secretary to Mr Vajpayee,” the Odisha chief minister said.

Naveen had a word of praise for Vaishnav. “He belonged to the Odisha cadre and served the state well,” he said.

The BJP does not have the required strength in the Odisha Assembly to send a member to the Rajya Sabha on its own. The BJD, on the other hand, has the numbers. An Assembly official said: “With 112 MLAs, the BJD is well set to win all three seats. There is no need to take the support of any party.”