New Delhi: Renowned former Olympic track and field athlete PT Usha took oath as Rajya Sabha MP on Wednesday. She arrived in Delhi on Monday and met President of Bharatiya Janata Party Jagat Prakash Nadda, on Tuesday.
Usha, along with renowned composer Ilaiyaraaja, screenwriter V Vijayendra Prasad and spiritual leader Veerendra Heggade, were nominated to the Upper House of Parliament by the government in what was seen as part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) outreach to southern India. PT Usha and legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja could not be present in the Rajya Sabha on Monday for oath-taking.
Born in a small village in Kozhikode district in Kerala, PT Usha is one of India’s most iconic sportspersons. She has been a role model and inspiration for lakhs of young girls across the country who have dreamt of taking up a career in sports, especially track and field events. In the 1984 Olympics, she missed winning India’s first medal in track and field in a photo-finish as she stood fourth in women’s 400M hurdles and lost the Bronze medal by 1/100 second.
Earlier on Monday, cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, Misa Bharti, daughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla took oath along with nearly 25 other leaders as Rajya Sabha members. Others included A Rao Meena, Vijay Sai Reddy, Kheeru Mahto, Shambhala Saran Patel, Ranjeet Ranjan, Maharashtra Majhi, Aditya Prasad, Praful Patel, Imran Pratapgarhi, Sanjay Raut, Sasmit Patra, Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Vikramjeet Singh Sahani, Randeep Singh Surjewal, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, R Girl Rajan, S Kalyan Sundaram, KRN Rajesh Kumar, Javed Ali Khan, V Vijendra Prasad.
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