Mysore/Mysuru: KPCC Working President R. Dhruvanarayan who had lost the previous Lok Sabha election from Chamarajanagar to BJP’s V. Sreenivasa Prasad in 2019, was also keen on returning to State politics.

Hence, when D.K. Shivakumar became KPCC President in July 2020, Dhruvanarayan was anointed as KPCC Working President in Feb. 2021, along with four other Congress leaders — R. Ramalinga Reddy, Saleem Ahmed, Eshwar Khandre and Satish Jarkiholi.

Since then, Dhruvanarayan was engaged in the organisational activities of the party. He had also actively involved in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra when the Yatra entered Karnataka from Kerala through Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district, in Sept. 2022.

Since the last year, Dhruvanarayan was lobbying hard to fight the Assembly election from Nanjangud (SC Reserve) constituency, but another senior leader and former minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa was also eyeing the same seat, to resurrect his political career.

The Screening Committee of the party which met recently in Bengaluru had also held discussions in this regard, it is said. At this juncture, especially when Congress was hoping to make big gains in this part of the region, Dhruvanarayan’s death has come as a big blow to the organisational works of the party.