Pratap Simha (left) and L Nagendra (right)
‘Out of action’ Pratap Simha now chases old friend Nagendra to grab Chamaraja
L Nagendra had helped Simha sail to victory in Parliament elections: Sources
Bengaluru/Mysuru
As pro-Hindutva rants targeting minority communities have failed to appease the BJP top brass, former parliamentarian from Mysuru-Kodagu, Pratap Simha, has begun chasing old friend L Nagendra to set foot in Chamaraja assembly segment in Mysuru district.
Nagendra is the incumbent BJP district president of Mysuru City and a former MLA of Chamaraja. He lost the 2023 elections to Congress leader K Harish Gowda. He lost by a slender margin of 4,094 votes. Nagendra is still a popular Vokkaliga face in this constituency.
According to sources in the Mysuru BJP, in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Nagendra stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Simha to ensure victory. Simha also hails from the dominant Vokkaliga community. The source stressed that even when prominent leader and three-time MLC Go Madhusudan withdrew support for Simha, Nagendra stood like a rock.
However, in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, Simha did not campaign for Nagendra vociferously. He was the sitting MP then. Sources said he clandestinely worked to defeat Nagendra. The tension surrounding his actions has now become clearer, with Simha recently proclaiming that he is a ticket aspirant for Chamaraja.
Simha, who is now seen as a hardline Hindutva leader, lost the MP ticket to Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar. No amount of lobbying worked in Simha’s favour to secure the seat.
The party’s decision was shaped by multiple considerations rather than a single stated reason. Simha came under significant scrutiny after it emerged that he had issued visitor passes to those involved in the December 2023 Parliament security breach.
At the same time, there were reports of internal dissatisfaction within the BJP, with some local leaders and workers opposing his style of functioning. Additionally, the choice to field a member of the royal family was viewed as a calculated strategy to leverage the Maharaja’s strong local influence and social standing to consolidate and stabilise the constituency.
Ever since he lost the ticket, Simha has been out of action. He has been issuing communal statements to remain relevant. But this does not appear to be helping him. He also engaged in an allegedly unhealthy verbal confrontation with Congress MLA Pradeep Eshwar.
Political boxing for Chamaraja
For the past one week, Simha and Nagendra have been engaged in a war of words. Simha openly announced that he will be setting up office infrastructure in Chamaraja as part of his grandiose plan of contesting elections.
As soon as Simha made his aspirations public, Nagendra hit back, saying he is very much proactive in his constituency. Nagendra also made it clear that he has been working for the party for three decades and was not parachuted into electoral politics like Simha.
Speaking to blrpost.com, Nagendra said, “I can only say this. He is currently jobless, and that is precisely the reason why he is coming after me.”
The supporters of Nagendra also held press meets targeting Simha. They also spoke about the stay or injunction Simha secured from the court not to air, broadcast, or publish certain content.
It appears that in the process of lobbying for a ticket for the 2028 polls, Simha is making more foes than friends. Sources in the BJP said his adventure may prove detrimental to his career. Ideally, he should have maintained a low profile after losing the ticket and begun lobbying silently when the time was right.
Pratap Simha is reaping what he saw. Pratap Simha got a chance in politics for his strong arguments for Hindutva in his articles published in a Kannada daily. After he was chosen by people as MP, he didnt look back. He has dine good job as MP. Gradually emerged as a very strong contender for top position from BJP. His own party senior and dynasty leaders perceived him as a threat to their political aspirations. Unfortunately , Pratap casually issued passes to where a mad fringe dudes who entered parliament to disrupt the house . His inner enemies successfully leveraged this incident to deny him LS seat in the last election. He had also enjoyed good public support from hindu voters. Now let’s come to the main point. Does he enjoy public support from the same Hindutva voters block? Definitely not. He has considerably lost hindus support due to his stand on Soujanya rape and murder case and mass burial of Dharmasthala. This proved his hindutva is just ‘political’ not genuine as believed by hindus. He stood against justice like his own party that sidelined him. So his future is very challenging, having lost faith of hindus in him.