Decoding BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidates from the southern states
India Today
The BJP nominated four prominent figures from the South Indian states - Veerandra Heggade, P T Usha, Ilaiyaraaja and K V Vijayendra Prasad – to the Rajya Sabha. Is this part of the party's attempts to conquer the southern region?
The BJP-led Modi government on Wednesday nominated four prominent figures from South Indian states - Veerandra Heggade, P T Usha, Ilaiyaraaja and K V Vijayendra Prasad to the Rajya Sabha. The announcement came three days after the party held its two-day national executive meeting in Telangana.
The move is seen as a continuation of the BJP’s outreach to the region across the Vindhyas. All the nominated members hail from the southern part of the country - Olympian athlete P T Usha hails from Kerala, philanthropist and administrator of the Dharmasthala temple Heggade is from Karnataka, renowned music director Ilaiyaaraja’s home is in Tamil Nadu and film personality Vijayendra Prasad, is from Andhra Pradesh.
The prime minister personally tweeted the decision and many have interpreted it as the government’s endeavour to provide representation to the underprivileged, as the new MPs included a woman, Dalits and a minority community member (Jain).
ILAIYARAAJA FROM TAMIL NADU
The nominations for Rajya Sabha are a quartet of careful picks to signal the party’s new demographic focus. Ilaiyaraaja, the music maestro, was born in a Dalit household in a village in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district.
He has a large following owing to his career that spans more than five decades with over 7000 songs for more than 1000 movies. He has also performed in more than 20000 concerts across the globe.
There was a buzz about Ilaiyaraaja, a Dalit, getting a Rajya Sabha berth during the past couple of months, especially after the maestro likened Modi to B R Ambedkar. Ilaiyaraaja’s nomination is the BJP’s bid to woo Tamil voters, out of which 20 per cent are made up of Dalits.
