The decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party high command to shift Union Minister for Urban Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu to Rajasthan for Rajya Sabha elections has raised many eyebrows.
According to sources, the BJP high command came under severe pressure from the party leaders from Karnataka to shift Venkaiah, who represented the state in Rajya Sabha for two terms.
They reportedly told the party leadership that Venkaiah had a very bad name in the State, as he had done little for it during his tenure.
Most of the time, Venkaiah lived either in Delhi or in Andhra Pradesh; and he had not spent any money from MP LAD funds on any works in Karnataka. There is a serious campaign against Venkaiah in the social media in Karnataka, they said.
The BJP leaders told the leadership that they would accept anyone else, except Venkaiah. As a result, the high command had no option but to shift Venkaiah to Rajasthan and in his place, it has fielded Nirmala Sitaraman, who earlier represented AP.
This is a sort of humiliation to Venkaiah, say sources.
