Siddaramaiah chalks out strategy to combat Srinivasa Prasad’s return to fray

  • | Monday | 18th March, 2019

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah is keen to corner Prasad, and equally eager to win back the Mysuru seat, which is currently held by Pratap Simha of BJP . Relations between Mahadevappa and Siddaramaiah had reportedly soured following the former’s loss from T Narasipur segment in last year’s assembly elections. Moreover, Mahadevappa’s absence at a party rally in T Narasipura had also triggered reports of a rift in the party. Mysuru: The unexpected return of senior Dalit leader V Srinivasa Prasad to the electoral fray – he is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Chamarajanagar, a seat he won on five occasions – appears to have forced a rethink in the Congress party’s strategy for the Mysuru and Chamarajanagar constituencies. Moreover, it was on the back of a resounding performance in the Old Mysore Region that the Congress had managed to ride to power in 2013.

Mysuru: The unexpected return of senior Dalit leader V Srinivasa Prasad to the electoral fray – he is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Chamarajanagar, a seat he won on five occasions – appears to have forced a rethink in the Congress party’s strategy for the Mysuru and Chamarajanagar constituencies. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah is keen to corner Prasad, and equally eager to win back the Mysuru seat, which is currently held by Pratap Simha of BJP . Siddaramaiah has entrusted the responsibility of the two Lok Sabha seats to former public works minister and Dalit leader HC Mahadevappa.Siddaramaiah held a series of meetings with Congress and JD(S) leaders and followers on Sunday, and assayed the readiness of the coalition parties in the two segments. Relations between Mahadevappa and Siddaramaiah had reportedly soured following the former’s loss from T Narasipur segment in last year’s assembly elections. Moreover, Mahadevappa’s absence at a party rally in T Narasipura had also triggered reports of a rift in the party. However, the Dalit leader has been made in-charge for the party’s fortunes in the two Lok Sabha constituencies.“Siddaramaiah asked Mahadevappa to focus exclusively on these two segments,” a close associate of Siddaramaiah told TOI.Although Prasad lost the 2017 bypoll from Nanjangud, he helped BJP win the segment, where his son-in-law was fielded. Moreover, it was on the back of a resounding performance in the Old Mysore Region that the Congress had managed to ride to power in 2013. However, the party lost most of its seats in the 2018 elections, with Siddaramaiah losing from Chamundeshwari segment to GT Devegowda of JD(S).Although former MP and minister CH Vijayashankar is being touted as the possible Congress candidate from Mysuru, many other aspirants in the local party unit have thrown their hats in the ring. The 90-minute meeting that Siddaramaiah held on Sunday was attended by, besides Mahadevappa and Vijayashankar, Varuna MLA Yathindra Siddaramaiah, former MLAs HP Manjunath, Vasu, MK Somashekar and president of the Congress’ Mysuru district unit BJ Vijaykumar.Mahadevappa said that the party leaders had discussed at length the strategy to be adopted for ensuring Congress’ victory in the two Lok Sabha constituencies.

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