Is Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP’s emerging face in Tamil Nadu ?

The revelation prompted State Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar to have an impromptu meeting with the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Vijaya Baskar who activated a core team of bureaucrats lead by Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan to submit the revised draft of ordinance exempting State students from NEET. He thanked Nirmala Sitharaman for her ‘sweet’ announcement in an interview with DT Next.

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BJP’s state president Tamilisai Soundararajan said that it was too early to state the Centre’s stand in the issue. She said on July 23 that her party was willing to support the state if it sought exemption for a period of three years. It, however, did not work up the government as Sitharaman’s announcement on Sunday did.

Political commentators suggested the choice of Nirmala Sitharaman emerging as BJP’s face as natural. Political analyst Ravindran Doraisamy observed that Sitharaman would be the apt candidate to project as party’s face for CM candidate and advantage for BJP in the absence of the AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa. “Nirmala Sitharaman is beyond any faction and that may work in her favour,” he said.

Speaking to reporters, Soundararajan said that Amit Shah’s planned visit to the city was only to strengthen the party’s footing. “After our appointment, we have been executing the projects passed on to us by our party high command. Yes, Amit Shah is coming. His agenda is only to strengthen the party’s cadre base and we are not aware of anything about the change of guard,” she said.

“Not just Nirmala Sitharaman, every one of us (BJP leaders from State) were privy to our party’s stand on providing NEET exemption. The Union Minister announcing it in a press conference doesn’t mean that we were kept in the dark.

Even she expressed her regret that she shouldn’t have made the announcement to the media,” Soundararajan said.