Bollywood’s ‘Dreamgirl’ of yesteryears Hema Malini today filed her nomination papers as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka being held on March 3.
CM B S Yeddyurappa and BJP state president K S Eshwarappa accompanied her as she filed the nomination before returning officer S B Patil, secretary of Karnataka legislative assembly at Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat.
The byelection to the seat was necessitated following the death of former Union minister M Rajasekhara Murthy. The winning candidate’s term would end on April 2 next year. Hema Malini, who completed one term in the Rajya Sabha in 2009, will get only the remaining one year of Murthy. The JD(S) leader died on December 6, 2010, of a heart attack.
Talking to reporters, after filing her nomination papers, Hema Malini said, “I was closely associated with Karnataka as an artiste. I thank the people of the state for giving me an opportunity to contest. I will understand the priorities of the people of my constituency and work accordingly.” Hema Malini’s surprise choice for the seat had caused a lot of heartburn for a section of the party in the state, as she is seen as an “outsider”. Yeddyuarappa had backed former minister V Dhananjaya Kumar, who is also the special representative of Karnataka in New Delhi. It is expected that Hema Malini is sure to get elected as the BJP has sufficient strength for her election. Presently, the party has 106 members in the truncated assembly of 206 members. The main opposition party, Congress, has 71 members, while JD(S) has 27.
Meanwhile, K Marulasiddappa, a noted Kannada writer has also filed four sets of nomination papers as an independent candidate with the support of two opposition parties, Congress and JD(S). He filed his papers to the returning officer. Leader of opposition Siddaramaiah told reporters, the selection of Hema Malini who is an outsider is unfair. “The BJP has created a tradition of selecting outsiders. It is of no use sending an outsider from Karnataka to the upper house as they don’t have an insight of Karnataka affairs and they will not raise the voice of the state-related issues.”