Lahar Singh was BJP’s unseen bridge to K’taka

Known as a behind-the-scenes operator, BJP’s Lahar Singh Siroya will make his debut as a Rajya Sabha member representing Karnataka.

According to BJP sources, the plan to send the 73-year-old to the Rajya Sabha took birth as early as March this year.

A two-time MLC, Siroya became a member of the Upper House of the state legislature for the first time in 2010. He was re-nominated again in 2016 and his tenure ended recently. A long-time treasurer of the state BJP unit, his stint with the saffron party started as the saffron unit’s Yuva Morcha activist in the 1980s.

Siroya is seen as one of the few Karnataka BJP leaders with access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In fact, he had placed advertisements in dailies for Modi when he was Gujarat chief minister.

In Karnataka, Siroya was the bridge between the BJP central leadership and veteran leader B S Yediyurappa during his stint as chief minister between 2008 and 2011. However, Siroya is known to keep a low profile, rarely engaging in any public spat or controversy.

Siroya hails from Rajasthan where he went to the Fateh High School in Udaipur.

PM, Nadda dial Bommai

Soon after the BJP bagged three out of the four Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai received phone calls from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president J P Nadda. According to the chief minister's office, Modi and Nadda congratulated Bommai for ensuring the party's victory in three seats, calling it "a valuable effort."