Nadda files RS nomination
SHIMLA: Union health minister Jagat Parkash Nadda filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha in Shimla on Thursday, with his detractor former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and MLAs owing allegiance to him remaining conspicuous by their absence.
Flanked by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti and Vidhan Sabha speaker Rajeev Bindal, Nadda filed his papers at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat.
“I thank the BJP high command, Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur and the state party chief for finalising my name. I will keep raising the state’s issues in New Delhi. The Narendra Modi government is concerned about the hill state which has been receiving central assistance,” he said.
Earlier, he called on governor Acharya Devvrat at the latter’s residence after reaching the state capital in the morning. Nadda also witnessed the proceedings of the ongoing budget session in the Vidhan Sabha.
Nadda started his career in student politics in 1975 when he joined the Sampurna Kranti (total revolution) movement started by Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was elected as secretary of the Patna University Students Union in 1977.
In 1993, he won his first assembly election from his hometown Bilaspur. He was leader of opposition in the Vidhan Sabha.
Nadda was re-elected in 1998 and was made cabinet minister in Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP government. He served another tenure as a minister holding forest, environment, science and technology minister from 2007-2010 in Dhumal-led government.
Following his differences with Dhumal, he quit state politics and got appointed as BJP’s national general secretary. In 2012, he was elected as a Rajya Sabha member and was inducted as health minister in Narendra Modi-led government two years later.
“Nadda ji played a vital role in the sate’s development . I have a firm faith his renomination to the Rajya Sabha will help the state,” chief minister Thakur said.