MYSURU: BJP candidate from Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency, Pratap Simha , will file his nomination papers on Monday.Announcing this at a press conference here on Saturday, legislator from Krishnaraja, S A Ramadas, said Simha will perform puja at Kote Anjaneyaswamy temple at around 10 am. Then he will proceed to the DC office in a rally attended by booth-level workers and file the papers at around 12.30 pm. BJP leaders R Ashoka and B Sriramulu will be present, he said.“Congress has taken this election as a prestige issue. But BJP has taken this election as a challenge and seek votes based on the development programmes initiated by PM Modi in the past five years,” he said.Referring to the statement made by former CM Siddaramaiah that BJP MP Simha had not initiated any development work in the district, Ramadas said that the party had written a letter to Siddaramaiah inviting him for an open discussion. “But we have not received any reply from him,” he said.Without taking the name of C H Vijayashankar, he said: “The Congress-JD(S) coalition candidate (Vijayashakar) was previously in BJP and has served as MP, minister and MLC. We will win the election with a huge margin,” he said.Ramadas said that in 1997, BJP for the first time with 32 % votes had won the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency. In 2004, the party won 33 % votes while in 2009, it received 35 % votes. It made history by winning 43% votes in 2014 in the segment.“This time, there will be a direct fight between BJP and Congress. BJP needs 51 % votes and in this regard the party workers are working hard,” he said.BJP spokesperson and Mysuru LS segment incharge Vamanacharya said that Pratap Simha will win the election. “Even youths who were supporting JD(S) will vote for BJP this time,” he said.MLA L Nagendra, constituency coordinator Paneesh, Kodagu BJP president Bharateesh were present.Simha launches poll campaign in KodaguMadikeri: BJP candidate Pratap Simha launched his campaign in Kodagu on Saturday by visiting various places and meeting party workers and supporters. In the meetings, Pratap explained various schemes implemented by the Centre for common man and requested voters to bring back Modi government.He addressed gatherings in Siddapura, Hudikeri, Ponnampet and Gonikoppal. He claimed that he succeeded in bringing railway line to Kodagu and the national highway is being developed. The Narendra Modi government should be re-elected to complete the reforms which had started five years ago.MLA K G Bopaiah, MLC Sunil Subramani and others have accompanied Pratap Simha during the campaign in various places in Kodagu.Meanwhile, the Congress has not started any campaign due to the delay in announcing the official candidate for Mysuru constituency.Recently, the Congress held an election meeting which was attended by KPCC office-bearers. However, after that, no activity has taken place.

Stay updated with all the Latest Mysore headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.