Suresh Heblikar vs. Hema Malini for Rajya Sabha seat

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had conveyed to senior party leaders that he favours the former Union Minister of State for Finance V. Dhananjaya Kumar, the Special Representative of Karnataka in New Delhi, for a Rajya Sabha seat. Dissidence is again raising its head in the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka with the national unit of the BJP selecting noted film actor Hema Malini as the party candidate for the byelection to the Rajya Sabha seat scheduled for March 3.

It is widely believed that the candidature of Ms. Hema Malini has been recommended by the party General Secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar. Sources in the BJP said that Hema Malini's name had been cleared as some Assembly elections are due this year and she would be one of the star campaigners of the party in two big States of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The winning candidate will, however, only enjoy a break term given the fact that the current term will end on April 2, 2012. (In the normal course a member of the Rajya Sabha enjoys a six-year term.) This byelection is for the seat which fell vacant following the death of former Union Minister M. Rajasekhara Murthy.

The Congress and JDS have floated the name of actor and environmentalist Suresh Heblikar as their candidate. Who will win? Wait and watch!