Bengaluru: Pressure is mounting on former minister and senior BJP leader V Srinivasaprasad to re-consider his retirement from politics and contest from Chamarajanagar constituency against two-time Congress MP, Dhruvanarayana this Lok Sabha poll.
Mr Prasad had announced his retirement from electoral politics after he suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Mr Kalale Keshavamurthy of the Congress in the Nanjangud by-poll two years ago.
While still in the Congress, he had represented Chamarajanagar for five consecutive terms in the Lok Sabha, but after his shift to state politics, the Congress fielded Mr Dhruvanarayana, his own protege, from the constituency and he has gone on to represent it for two terms since. In the 2014 LS polls, the BJP had fielded Mr Shivanna against Mr Dhruvanarayana only to lose by a big margin.
With no strong candidate on its side this time, the BJP is hoping Mr Prasad will be strong enough to take on and defeat Mr Dhruvanarayana these polls. It is banking on him as it does not have any base in the dalit dominated Chamarajanagar constituency and had won both Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly seats thanks only to his influence in the constituency.
While senior BJP leaders like Mahadevapura MLA, Arvind Limbavali have met him to try and convince him, people of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar too have been calling on him to reconsider his retirement from electoral politics. Mr Prasad is likely to make up his mind shortly, according to sources.
For the Congress, the main worry could be the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) , which could corner the dalit votes that usually come its way. Worse, it has decided to field candidates in all 28 LS constituencies in the state, spelling trouble for the party.
