The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday named Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan as its candidates for Rajya Sabha polls from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has announced support for Vaishnaw’s candidature.

The BJD also backed Vaishnaw’s nomination for his first Rajya Sabha term in 2019. Vaishnaw’s candidature was announced even as there was speculation that he may contest the 2024 national polls from Balasore in Odisha. A bureaucrat-turned-politician, Vaishnaw, 55, served as Balasore and Cuttack collector.

Vaishnaw, who arrived in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday and met BJP leaders, was expected to file his nomination on Thursday in the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

A candidate needs 38 first-preference votes to get elected. The BJD would be left with 33 first-preference votes after getting its two candidates elected. The BJP has 22 lawmakers in the 147-member Odisha assembly.

Vaishnaw’s nomination from Odisha comes as the Congress has sharpened its attack on the BJD and BJP. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh this month said there is no difference between the two parties and that they are two sides of the same coin.

Murugan, the minister of state for information and broadcasting and fisheries, was also in line for a ticket for the 2024 national polls from Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri. A former BJP Tamil Nadu chief, he hit the headlines with his Vel Yatra, which was seen as part of the party’s attempt to assert its space as an opposition party in the state.