Mysore/Mysuru: With the Lok Sabha Polls round the corner, State BJP President B.Y. Vijayendra paid a courtesy visit to the residence of Chamarajanagar MP and senior party leader V. Sreenivasa Prasad at Jayalakshmipuram here this morning. This was the first visit of Vijayendra to Prasad’s residence after he became State BJP Chief in October last. The two leaders discussed the current political situation in the State and the forthcoming LS polls.

Later speaking to presspersons, Vijayendra admitted that Hindutva leader Arun Kumar Puttila of Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, had recently met him to discuss his joining of the BJP ahead of the LS polls, during which he advised Puttila to join the party unconditionally.

Stressing on the need for every party leader to work unitedly in order to make Modi the Prime Minister again, Vijayendra said that the party’s main focus is on winning all the LS seats in the State.

Maintaining that there are no confusions regarding the seat sharing between BJP and JD(S), he asserted that there will be no confusions in the future too. Contending that he does not know why JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy is meeting  Union Home Minister Amit Shah today, the State BJP Chief said he will be visiting New Delhi at the end of this month or the first week of next month to meet the party High Command.

Commenting on the result of Legislative Council seat from Bengaluru Teachers Constituency, in which the coalition candidate A.P. Ranganath lost to Puttanna of the ruling Congress, Vijayendra observed that the result was not a pointer to the LS poll results in any way.

I have told my personal opinion regarding Chamarajanagar ticket: Prasad

Speaking after having held talks with Vijayendra, who had called on him at his Jayalakshmipuram residence, Chamarajanagar MP V. Sreenivasa Prasad said that there are many aspirants in the BJP to contest from Chamarajanagar seat, including his two sons-in-law.

Pointing out that he knew that one of his sons-in-law Dr. Mohan is one of the aspirant, he said that he now came to know that his other son-in-law B. Harshavardhan, a former MLA from Nanjangud, too is an aspirant. However, all his family members are united and will support the High Command’s choice, he said.

“I have told my personal opinion regarding the BJP ticket for Chamarajanagar seat. I will stick firmly to my announcement that I would retire from electoral politics after Mar. 17, when I complete 50 years of political life. Also, I will not embark on public campaigns during the forthcoming LS polls. But I will personally ask everyone to support the BJP,” he said, while refusing to comment on the possibility of Mysuru District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa contesting on a Congress ticket from Chamarajanagar.

Accusing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of spending time by only blowing the trumpet across the State regarding the Congress party’s five pre-poll guarantees and doing nothing for the State’s development, Prasad said that PM Modi was a global leader and CM Siddaramaiah was no match for him.

Lashing out at the CM for frequently criticising the PM and as well as the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the MP maintained that the Centre was correctly making GST devolution to all the States and Karnataka was no exemption. Strongly condemning the Congress party’s baseless allegations against the Centre on tax devolution, he said that the people are closely watching the Congress party’s tantrums and they would teach a fitting lesson to the Congress in the forthcoming LS polls.

City BJP President and former MLA L. Nagendra, District President L.R. Mahadevaswamy, former MP C.H. Vijayshankar, former Mayor Shivakumar and other BJP leaders were present.