TNI Bureau: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reportedly dialled BJD president Naveen Patnaik and sought his party’s support for NDA’s vice-president candidate CP Radhakrishnan.

It is to be noted here that Naveen Patnaik is currently undergoing treatment at SUM Ultimate Medicare after suffering from dehydration.

NDA needs BJD’s support to win the vice-president election as the regional party has a total of seven Rajya Sabha members.

Though the conch party had earlier blindly extended support for all the NDA candidates, it’s stand has changed after it lost power to the BJP and failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 elections.

After the last general election, BJD has opposed some major decisions of the NDA government in the Parliament. Therefore, Rajnath’s telephonic conversation with the former Odisha CM is considered to be be crucial. However, only time will say either it will support CP Radhakrishnan or go with the Block, which is yet to finalize it’s candidate.

Meanwhile, a senior BJD leader informed that the party will take a final decision on vice-president election only after complete recovery of Naveen Patnaik.