Chamarajanagar: The Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha seat (SC) seems to be set for a battleground between senior BJP leader V. Sreenivasa Prasad and sitting Congress MP R. Dhruvanarayan, who were close friends and mutual well-wishers earlier.

Both Sreenivasa Prasad and Dhruvanarayan, though not contemporaries, started their political career with the Congress and worked closely in the party when they were together.

But in a changed political scenario, Prasad left the Congress after being dropped from Siddharamaiah Cabinet in 2016 and later joined the BJP. However, Dhruvanarayan continued in the Congress and won twice from Chamarajanagar (SC) on a Congress ticket in 2009  and 2014.

Now with Sreenivasa Prasad no more in the Congress, which he was previously associated for decades, Dhruvanarayan is all set to take on his mentor Sreenivasa Prasad of the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

With the BJP almost certain to field its senior leader Sreenivasa  Prasad, the battle lines have been drawn in Chamarajanagar, where two Dalit leaders, who were once close associates, will take on each other at the hustings.

Prasad, a five-time MP from Chamarajanagar (four times from the Congress and once from JD-S) had served as a Union Minister in the NDA Government headed by A.B. Vajpayee between 1999 and 2003.

Sreenivasa Prasad, who got elected from Nanjangud (SC) Assembly segment for the second time in 2013, became a Minister in the Siddharamaiah-led Congress Government.

But he was dropped in a major Cabinet reshuffle in June 2016, when a miffed Prasad                               walked out of the Congress and also quit his Assembly seat. He later joined the BJP, which made him the party Vice-President.

It may be mentioned here that Dhruvanarayan tried his best to convince Prasad not to quit Congress. But as Sreenivasa Prasad was determined to leave the Congress, the efforts of Dhruvanarayan failed.

Sreenivasa Prasad, who contested the Nanjangud by-polls, lost to Kalale Keshavamurthy of Congress, when Prasad’s relationship with Dhruvanarayan further soured.

Now the two Dalit leaders are all set to lock horns in the LS Polls from Chamarajanagar.

By S. Siddalingaswamy