The BJP ticket for the Mysuru-Kodagu Parliamentary election 2024 has gone to Mr. Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the adopted son of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar of the Mysore Royal Family.

2. The BJP voters, specially the RSS-Modi fans and supporters, were expecting the incumbent MP Prathap Simha to do the hat-trick by getting the ticket for the third time and  winning with a greater margin than in the past.

3. Unfortunately to the disappointment of Prathap Simha’s fans, followers and silent admirers he did not get the ticket when the second list of BJP candidates was announced last evening.

4. In retrospect, this unfair, unjust and even malicious denial of ticket to Prathap Simha, at a time when everything seemed going good for Narendra Modi and the BJP in this election, is more in the nature of being indifferent to the aspirations of BJP’s traditional voters just to please and oblige the Wadiyar Royal dynasty. Who knows, advantage Congress.

5. Of course, the announcement of denial did not come as a surprise either to Prathap Simha himself or the media. The suspense was already in the air when Mr. Yaduveer’s name began to waft in the political atmosphere of Mysuru-Kodagu Constituency.

6. According to a TV channel last evening it was B.S. Yediyurappa, BJP honcho, who persuaded Mr. Yaduveer, presumably a reluctant aspirant, to agree to contest. The TV channel even named the senior BJP MP, close to Modi, as being the source of this information.

7. In truth I myself was present once when Mr. Yaduveer told the media that he was not interested and it was too early for him to think of politics. How then this change of mind to contest the election came around is a million dollar question.

8. We know that his adoptive father Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar had lost as BJP candidate once and won as a Congress candidate four times. If so why Mr. Yaduveer preferred BJP and not Congress to make his entry into politics?

9. Will the history repeat itself to the embarrassment of BJP this time too? God only knows. Let it be.

10. In life everything happens for a reason. The grapevine has it that it is the unbeatable combination of local ‘adjustment politics’ and the high-octane BJP political leadership at Delhi (through family alliance) that air-dropped the ticket, like manna from heaven, for Mr. Yaduveer Wadiyar.  This information too is in the public domain.

11. I am now wondering why no one, including media, could divine the deeper purpose of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mysore Palace for breakfast with the Royal family where Mr. Yaduveer was conspicuously present. The media merely reported the visit providing the frivolous details of what the menu was and what the Prime Minister savoured smacking his lips. The fate of poor Prathap Simha was sealed at that Royal breakfast table on June 21, 2022.

12. Some people reason this denial of ticket to Prathap Simha and justify it saying that after all he has served two terms and let new-comers get a chance. Well, here there is neither reason nor justification. After all, have we not seen politicians enabled for more than two terms? Mr. Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar himself is an example. What legacy has he left behind as a four-time MP for us? Ironic that it was Prathap Simha who got the name Tipu Express  changed to Wadiyar Express even though Wadiyar was four-time MP and belongs   to the same Wadiyar dynasty. Yet he could not even think of it, let alone do it.

13. In the past we have seen many MPs from different political parties promising maximum at the time of election and delivering not even minimum beyond doling out the MPs Local Area Development Fund, that too not completely. It is here we find Prathap Simha making a difference. In his 10 years what he has done for his Constituency is unthinkable — from Passport Seva Kendra to trains to the Expressway   and Airport — the list is too long to enumerate here. One old Professor told me that among the MPs in this Constituency he could remember only two names — Tulasidas Dasappa and Prathap Simha.

14. I am reminded of Shakespeare who wrote, probably keeping in mind the ways of politicians and rulers, “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones.” Did the BJP High Command forget the good that Prathap Simha did for his Constituency enhancing the image of BJP and Modi among the voters?

15. This said I have no hesitation to say that a large number of BJP traditional voters are disappointed. A couple of senior citizens called me to share their sentiment and wondered how should they face the ballot box or EVM? NOTA they said. That is the glory of Democracy, I said.

16. And finally, like agriculture, politics too is a gamble in India. Only a few are lucky in love and war. And election is a war. Sadly this time Prathap Simha, despite fighting well, lost the war due to reasons our Rajas and Maharajas lost the war to foreign invaders.

Best of luck next time Mr. Prathap Simha. Do not despair. There will be a new dawn in BJP for you. Bide your time.

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