Nirmala to be BJP’s face in TN?

Desperate to make inroads into Tamil Nadu ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP national leadership is reportedly mulling the strategy of fielding Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman as its face in the state.
Nirmala Sitharaman
Nirmala Sitharaman

CHENNAI: Desperate to make inroads into Tamil Nadu ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP national leadership is reportedly mulling the strategy of fielding Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman as its face in the state. Many here expect that BJP president Amit Shah, who is scheduled to visit Tamil Nadu from August 22 to 24, may appoint key persons to new posts and officially project her as the party’s 
state face.Though the idea has been in the air for a while, recent developments have heightened speculations in this regard. Even as the party’s state leadership was in the dark, Sitharaman last week announced here that the Centre would cooperate if Tamil Nadu brought in an Ordinance on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exemption.


State ministers who were frequenting Delhi to lobby with various ministries there on NEET had met her along with many other leaders connected with Tamil Nadu, but not many expected the national leadership of the BJP would task her with breaking the news about the Centre’s position. It did not miss senior Congress leader P Chidambaram’s attention, who raised questions about the commerce and industries minister being involved in a matter related to medical education. 


Incidentally, it was Sitharaman who had first proposed the promulgation of a State Ordinance to make banned but popular bull sport jallikattu legal. Though party leaders in the State claim ignorance about her projection, they agree that many of the issues relating to Tamil Nadu are routed mostly through Sitharaman now.

Daughter of  the soil

Born in Madurai and educated in Tiruchy, Sitharaman has close ties with Tamil Nadu, but is not part of any camp within the state unit. Over the years, she has been seen as an efficient but quiet minister in the Narendra Modi government.

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