Union Minister of State for Science and Technology YS Chowdary of TDP and former Andhra Pradesh minister and Chowdary's fellow partyman T G Venkatesh, who too filed nominations at the Legislature here, are also set to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. While Chowdary is seeking an election to the Upper House of Parliament for a second straight term, Venkatesh is going to make his maiden entry. Both are industrialists-turned-politicians.
Meanwhile, Keen to shed the "outsider" tag, Union Minister Nirmala Seetharaman has promised to learn Kannada and protect the interest of Karnataka, as she filed her nomination for the June 11 biennial elections. "I have filed the nomination as BJP karyakarta, with Yeddyurappaji, other state leaders and Ananth Kumarji being there. I'm fully confident (of win)," she said. "I will take care of interest of Karnataka in every way," she said.
Media baron Subhash Chandra and renowned lawyer RK Anand also filed their nomination papers as Independent candidates for the second Rajya Sabha seat falling vacant from Haryana.
While Chandra claimed to have garnered support from the ruling BJP and some MLAs cutting across party lines, main opposition Indian National Lok Dal threw its weight behind Anand, who has fought Lok Sabha election in the past as an INLD candidate. However, Anand at present is not a member of INLD, a party leader said.
Union Minister and BJP leader Birender Singh had filed nomination for the Upper House polls from Haryana on Monday.
Besides Prabhu, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram are set to be elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, with the deadline for filing nominations ending on Tuesday.
They are among the six candidates in the fray for as many vacancies in the Upper House from the state.
Former Union minister Praful Patel (NCP), BJP’s Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Vikas Mahatme and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut have also filed their papers since the process for the biennial elections got underway.