Rajya Sabha MP Ashwini Vaishnaw, who took oath as a cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday, is believed to be reaping rich rewards for his good equations with the top BJP and BJD leadership.

On June 21, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah had called up Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, requesting him to lend his support for the election of Ashwini Vaishnaw, former private secretary to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha on a BJP ticket.

The BJP did not have the requisite numbers in the state Assembly to get the 1994 batch IAS officer from the Odisha cadre elected to the Upper House on its own strength. On the other hand, the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had the strength to get at least three leaders from Odisha to the Rajya Sabha.

Following the Prime Minister’s request, the BJD had agreed to support Vaishnaw and ensured his victory. Announcing his support for Vaishnaw, the chief minister had said: “He belongs to the Odisha cadre and has served the state well.”

That was Naveen’s way of justifying his party’s support to a BJP candidate at the cost of his own party.

Earlier, Naveen had promised to send former Lok Sabha member Prasanna Kumar Patsani, who had been denied a BJD ticket for the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat to accommodate former Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik, to the Rajya Sabha. However, Patnaik was defeated by BJP candidate and former IAS officer (1994 batch) Aparajita Sarangi.

“That very day, everyone had a feeling that Vaishnaw will be inducted into the Modi ministry sooner or later. He belongs to Rajasthan and is well-connected with the BJP leadership since his days as private secretary to Vajpayee. We are happy today after Modiji inducted him in the ministry,” a senior BJP leader said on Monday.

Speculation was rife that the fear of a CBI probe into the mining scam had forced Naveen to keep the central BJP leadership in good humour. Though the Justice M.B. Shah commission in 2014 had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged mining scam, the NDA government had not favoured it. However, the government could have changed its mind any time.

After being nominated to the Rajya Sabha, Vaishnaw maintained a low profile even in Odisha and never attacked the Naveen government like his other party colleagues, including Bhubaneswar MP Sarangi, who was a strong contender for a central ministerial berth. Vaishnaw has, therefore, been rewarded for his good relations with top BJP and BJD leadership and his down-to-earth nature.

On the other hand, the BJP has rewarded Mayurbhanj MP Bishweswar Tudu for his organisational skills. It was Tudu who checked the ruling BJD’s ingress into the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district. “We had won six seats out of seven Assembly seats in Mayurbhanj. The zilla parishad belongs to the BJP. Besides, he has strong connections with the RSS. He had worked in its Adivasi Kalyana unit for tribal development,” said a BJP leader.

“Besides, Draupadi Murmu who belongs to Mayurbhanj was replaced by Ramesh Bais as governor of Jharkhand. Modiji did not want to ignore the district, which has given BJP the maximum number of MLAs in Odisha. Being a tribal also proved to be an asset for Tudu. But Jual Oram, former Union minister and MP from Sundergarh, who is also a big tribal leader, has failed to make a comeback. Modiji has expanded his ministry taking several factors, including the performance of ministers, into account. Perhaps that is why Pratap Sarangi has been shown the door,” said a BJP leader.