MYSURU: I am introducing a youngster, Mr Srinivas Prasad. I want you to elect him to Parliament,” said then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Gundlupet, during 1980. The then 33-year-old first-time MP, V Srinivasa Prasad, has since seen many political ups and downs. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he contested on a BJP ticket from Chamarajnagar Lok Sabha constituency, a strong Congress bastion, and won.
Prasad who has fought 14 elections from 1974 to 2019, has won eight elections including two from Nanajangud assembly seat. He has won two out of six Lok Sabha elections on Lok Shakthi and on BJP tickets. He went on to become Minister of State in Prime Minister A B Vajpayee cabinet, and he was the face of the dalits in the NDA government. He saw that the Chamarajnagar – Mysuru gauge conversion was on track, besides ensuring all taluks got well-planned Ambedkar Bhavans.
Prasad, a post-graduate, and a student leader from Ashokpuram, who contested from general seat in Krishnaraja assembly constituency in 1974, saw that the Congress was defeated. His revolt against Congress leadership to contest as independent candidate in 1998 for the cause of dalits, gave him scope to emerge as the community leader. Nearly two decades later, the veteran dalit leader was left stranded after he was dropped from the Siddaramaiah cabinet in May 2016. His stock went down for a while but subsequently he was wooed by both the BJP and JD(S). Finally, he was back in the BJP for a second time.
Despite being out of Lok Sabha ambit for 14 years, Prasad, with a large following among dalits and backwards, managed to win with a thin margin this time. Prasad who turned down the BJP invite to go as Governor a few months ago, emerged as the dark horse for Chamarajnagar Lok Sabha constituency as there was no popular face to take on Congress candidate R Dhruvanarayana.
Knowing that the people have high expectations from him, Prasad said, “I want to draw a road map for development in the next five years.” He has plans for bringing in investment to promote agro industries, industrialization to generate employment, tap tourism potential in Chamarajnagar constituency that has three Tiger reserves and 49 per cent of forest cover. On the other hand, the BJP top brass want Prasad to equally focus on building the party in Mysuru – Chamarajnagar, to end the dominance of Congress and also of former chief minister Siddaramaiah.