S. Balaraj, the BJP candidate for Chamarajanagar reserved Parliamentary Constituency, who too was not very confident of getting the ticket despite being a strong aspirant, on Thursday, March 14, expressed confidence in winning the seat that is held by former Union Minister and BJP MP V. Srinivas Prasad.
“It did surprise me though I made a strong pitch for the ticket like other aspirants. The party chose me seeing my bond with the constituency, even without being in power for over two decades. The relationship that I continued with the people of Chamarajanagar and some good works for three years as Kollegal MLA appears to have worked in my favor,” the former MLA told The Hindu over the phone, in response to the ticket announcement. He thanked the Central and State leaders for choosing him.
Mr. Prasad’s two sons-in-law were in the ticket race and the party circles in the district thought one of them would get the ticket, considering the veteran politician’s clout in the constituency.
Mr. Balaraj, a former Chief Minister B.S Yediyurappa follower, said the party had given him an opportunity and many factors might have worked in his favour for getting the ticket. While arguing that the Congress’ guarantees will not play any role in the ensuing poll, Mr. Balaraj, who won as an independent from Kollegal in 2004, claimed that the dynamics differ for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
“I don’t think the guarantee schemes that were announced in the Assembly polls by the Congress will have any bearing on the LS polls. They were confined to the last poll. They will not work in this poll. The people will vote for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he maintained.
Chamarajanagar Congress aspirants
Meanwhile, the Congress is yet to announce its candidates for Mysuru and Chamarajanagar. Minister in charge of Mysuru district H.C. Mahadevappa’s son Sunil Bose’s name is doing the rounds for the Chamarajanagar seat.
The Minister had sought the ticket for his son considering his work for the party for many years. Mr. Bose was aspiring for a ticket for T. Narasipur in the last election. Still, in the changed circumstances after the sudden demise of R. Dhruvanarayana, the party fielded his son Darshan Dhruvanarayan in Nanjangud and asked Mr. Mahadevappa to contest from T. Narasipur whom he represented earlier.
Late R. Dhruvanarayan had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha poll from Chamarajanagar by a slender margin against Mr. Prasad.
There are possibilities of the party fielding Darshan Dhruvanarayan, the MLA for Nanjangud, in Chamarajanagar considering his father’s goodwill in the constituency when he was the MP.
KPCC Mahila Congress chief Pushpa Amarnath, who is also the vice-chairperson for the guarantees implementation authority, is also a ticket aspirant besides former MLA Nanjundaswamy.
Sources in Congress said Mr. Bose is the frontrunner with his father making a strong pitch for his candidature. The candidates may be announced either by Friday evening (March 15) or Saturday morning (March 16) since the BJP has already announced the tickets for the seats.
There were also speculations that the party may ask Mahadevappa to contest the poll. But the Minister had later clarified his intentions of not going to Central politics.
