Mysuru: Senior BJP leader V Srinivasprasad on Monday said he was contesting from Chamarajnagar constituency this Lok Sabha poll although he was tired of electoral politics, only because of pressure from his loyalists and party workers.
“I will finalise the date for filing of my nomination after discussion with my party workers,” he told reporters here. Mr Srinivasprasad who arrived in Mysuru by train from Bengaluru, received a huge welcome from his loyalists. Recalling that it had been 20 years since he last contested the Lok Sabha polls, he said, "Though there was pressure in 2004 and 2009, I refused.”
But now that he has agreed to contest, the veteran politician,who spent most of his career in the Congress before joining the BJP during the fag end of the Siddaramaiah government, seemed more than ready for the challenge, declaring, "Let them (the Congress and JDS) unite. No one will run away in fear. We are heading for a war and are all set for it. I am confident of winning the love and confidence of the people. The Congress is weak in the entire country and the state too.”
Once again bitterly reflecting on the manner in which he was dropped from the Siddaramaiah cabinet, he said, "I have taken them on and my anguish ended during the last assembly election. You have seen the fate of those who removed me from the cabinet. Mr Siddaramaiah kept saying he would be CM again, but he lost the Chamundeswari poll by 35,000 votes."
On contesting against his old protégé, R Druvanarayan of the Congress, he said, "We never know what kind of situations arise during elections. It is common in a democracy. Let the poll go on.”
