Dharmasthala Pattadhikari D. Veerendra Heggade took the oath of affirmation and allegiance to the Constitution as a Member (Nominated) of the Rajya Sabha at the Parliament House in New Delhi on Thursday.
Mr. Heggade took the oath in Kannada in the name of God during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu was in the chair during the oath-taking event.
Earlier, Mr. Heggade was welcomed to the Parliament House by Dakshina Kannada MP and State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
A statement from Mr. Kateel’s office here said that after the swearing-in, Mr. Heggade met Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Mr. Kateel and exchanged pleasantries.
Mr. Modi mentioned about the various service activities being undertaken by Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala and congratulated Mr. Heggade for being the driving spirit for all such activities.
Mr. Heggade was one among the four nominated by the Union government to the Rajya Sabha recently along with music composer Ilayaraja, Olympics athlete P.T. Usha and screenplay writer V. Vijayendra Prasad. He was presented the second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushana, in 2015.
Upon his [Mr. Heggade] nomination to the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Modi, recalling his visit to Dharmasthala, had said that Mr. Heggade was in the forefront of outstanding community service. He had the opportunity to pray at the Dharmasthala Temple and witness the great work Mr. Heggade was doing in healthcare, education and culture. He would certainly enrich parliamentary proceedings, the Prime Minister had said.
