Nirmala Sitharaman may walk away with Rajya Sabha seat from Karnataka

Bengaluru: Will Union minister for industry and commerce Nirmala Sitharaman elbow out other ticket aspirants and contest next month’s Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s candidate?

Sources in the state unit of BJP said outgoing member Prabhakar Kore, former legislator Veeranna Charantimath and others are lobbying for the ticket, but the party has not decided on its candidate so far. The state unit would, however, have no choice but to back the Union minister in case central leaders pick her at the behest of Mr Modi. As she is not a member of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, chances are that she would enter the fray in Karnataka, the sources added.

A senior leader of the state unit said: “The party unit has not decided about the candidate, but members of the core committee will shortly finalize who should contest from Karnataka.”

Mrs Sitharaman, who hails from Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, unsuccessfully tried for the party ticket ahead of Rajya Sabha polls held in Karnataka in 2012, but the party selected Ramakrishna who was subsequently elected to the upper House.

Sources said some leaders of the state unit are unlikely to agree to Mrs Sitharaman’s candidature as she hails from Tamil Nadu, a state locked in dispute with Karnataka over sharing water of the river Cauvery.