Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman filed her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday from Karnataka as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and assured Kannadigas that she would learn Kannada soon.
The BJP High Command has shifted senior BJP leader and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu from Karnataka to Rajasthan and brought Sitharaman to Karnataka.
Venkaiah has represented Karnataka thrice in the Rajya Sabha.
Sitharaman, a native of Tamil Nadu has assured the people of Karnataka that she would learn Kannada and strive hard to protect the interests of the State. She said, "I know Kannada a little bit now. But I will learn to speak in Kannada."
There was a growing discontent and a social media campaign against the BJP fielding a non-Kannadiga and in an obvious reference to this, she said: “I will take care of the interests of Karnataka in every way. I will make sure that the State's interests are upheld in Parliament. I'm going to be a servant here being sent by the Prime Minister who calls himself Pradhan Sevak".
She was accompanied by Union Minister Ananth Kumar and BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa while filing the nominations, hailed Yeddyurappa for introducing various welfare measures when he was the Chief Minister and maintained that the interest of Karnataka was safe in the hands of the BJP.
The candidature of Venkaiah Naidu for the RS berth had stirred controversy as Kannada activists stated that Naidu had failed to learn the language of the land despite having been elected to the Rajya Sabha for three consecutive terms.
Meanwhile, former State Minister V Somanna and lehar Singh filed their nomination for Vidhana Parishad seats. An insider in the party said that they did not want to take any risks ahead of 2018 assembly elections.