Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with Odisha's BJP MLAs and candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including party nominees Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar, and independent Dilip Ray.

The Odisha Rajya Sabha polls are expected to be a close contest with Dilip Ray entering the race, while the BJP has nominated its Odisha chief Manmohan Samal and MP Sujeet Kumar.