Music maestro Ilaiyaraaja, sports icon P T Usha, acclaimed screenwriter V Vijayendra Prasad and philanthropist and spiritual leader Veerendra Heggade were nominated to the Rajya Sabha on July 6. The nominations came on a day when Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of BJP and RCP Singh of JD(U) resigned from the Union Cabinet following the end of their Rajya Sabha terms.