Thaindian News

Bangalore, March 2 (IANS) A noted Kannada writer, K. Marulasiddappa, backed by known litterateurs like Girish Karnad, takes on Bollywood ‘dream girl’ Hema Malini in Thursday’s Rajya Sabha election here.

Hema Malini’s victory seems assured as she is the candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has 106 votes, including that of the assembly speaker.

Marulasiddappa is backed by the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), which together have 98 votes.

Hema Malini will need 104 votes to fill the vacancy created by the death of M. Rajashekara Murthy of the JD-S in December.

If elected, the yesteryear actor would be in the upper house of parliament for a little over a year as Murthy’s term would have expired in April 2012.

Though there is no possibility of cross-voting as each assembly member has to show to their party agent their votes before casting it, all three parties have issued whips to ensure that their members vote.

Karnad and several Kannada writers have sought votes for Marulasiddappa on the ground that Hema Malini has little knowledge about the state, its language, culture and problems.

“I respect her as an artist but her contribution in Rajya Sabha (Hema Malini was a nominated member in 2003-09) has been zero,” Karnad said last week.

“She has not asked a single question,” he said, urging all political parties to elect Marulasiddappa.

Hema Malini has declined to react to Karnad’s comments. However, she has contested the statement of other writers that she was an ‘outsider’ and does not know much about Karnataka.

“I am not an outsider. I have campaigned for BJP in the state and also given many performances (she is a Bharatanatyam dancer),” Hema Malini said here late Tuesday.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and other BJP leaders said Hema Malini would win comfortably.

The result would be announced late Thursday.

The strength of the Karnataka assembly is 225 (including one nominated who cannot vote).

However, with disqualification of 16 legislatorss, 11 of the BJP and five independents, and the resignation of two Congress and one JD-S member, the effective strength is down to 206.