Mysuru: Former Union Minister V Srinivasprasad on Thursday scraped through to a victory in the Chamarajnagar (reserved) Lok Sabha constituency by a slender margin of 1,817 votes in what is the first victory for a BJP candidate in the constituency. The five-term MP and two term MLA who had earlier contested on the Congress and Janata parivar tickets, is set to enter Parliament a sixth time.
Congress candidate R Druvanarayan led all through but in the 17th round, Srinivasprasad turned the tide and finally secured 5,68,537 votes against Druvanarayan’s 5,66,720 votes.
Later, Srinivasprasad said, “It was a very tough election as the Congress and JD (S) put together, had secured over 3,60,000 votes in the assembly elections. The Modi wave, B.S. Yeddyurappa’s popularity, my rich experience and the affection of the people earned me this victory.”
Mr Druvanarayan said, “In Varuna Assembly constituency represented by Yatindra Siddaramaiah, he secured a lead of 59,000 in the assembly elections last year but now, we have a lead of only 9,002 votes. In Chamarajnagar constituency represented by Congress MLA and minister Puttarangshetty, he had secured a 4,000 vote lead in the assembly elections but the BJP now has a 9,000 vote lead. And in HD Kote, though the Congress MLA secured a lead of 22,000 votes, we now have only a lead of 3,500. The coordination between the coalition partners was not good enough.”
