India, March 3 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and sitting MP Sujeet Kumar as its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for March 16.

Samal, who was re-elected unopposed to a fourth term as state unit chief in July, is widely credited with building the party's grassroots machinery that contributed to the party winning the 2024 assembly elections, and ending the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) uninterrupted 24-year rule. Samal, a former state minister, however, lost his own seat in the election.

Kumar was first elected to the Rajya Sabha on a BJD ticket in April 2020 before he crossed the floor to join the BJP in September 2024 - a move that prompted BJD president Na...