Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha recently, took oath as a member of the Upper House of Parliament on Thursday.
Heggade took oath in the name of God, amid the thumping of desks by members of the NDA.
Later, Heggade, along with BJP state unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter’s Parliament House office.
Separately, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal felicitated Heggade at Joshi’s office in Parliament House.
Speaking to reporters, Heggade said though the BJP government had nominated him to the Rajya Sabha, he would remain neutral in the House.
“I have got an opportunity to serve the nation. I will try to impress upon the government to emulate our success in rural development programmes and self-employment generating schemes in other parts of the country,” he said.