Mahadevappa rules out contesting Nanjangud bypolls

 PWD and District in-charge Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa has said that there was no question of his contesting the bypolls from the Nanjangud SC reserved Assembly constituency.

He was speaking to media persons at the DC’s office here on Friday during the launch of the e-Office. The election has been necessitated due to the resignation of former minister V Srinivas Prasad, after he was dropped from the Cabinet. Prasad has been declared as the BJP candidate for the bypolls.

“I am already a minister and so there is no need for my contest in the bypolls,” he said.  However, sources close to him said that he was serious about contesting the bypolls.

According to sources, Mahadevappa has nothing to lose even if he is defeated in the bypolls. However, if he does not contest, the party, particularly the chief minister, is keen on fielding Kalale N Keshavamurthy, who is currently with the JD(S). Dr Mahadevappa thinks that if he lets Keshavamurthy contest the bypolls, he will have to forego the constituency for ever. He wants a constituency, that borders his own constituency of T Narsipur, for his son Sunil Bose. Bose, who was touted to be the Congress nominee for the bypolls, is reportedly not in a position to contest right now due to the arrest of senior engineers S C Jayachandra and T N Chikkarayappa by the CBI in connection with disproportionate assets case and the seizure of new high-denomination currency notes from them.

Dr Mahadevappa has already toured the Nanjangud constituency extensively. Besides inaugurating a lot of projects that were pending since a long time, he has also extended personal favours to a lot of party workers during the recent tours. Over 15,000 people of Nanjangud constituency have been granted loans with subsidy from various boards and corporation in the past one month under the instructions of Dr Mahadevappa, sources said.

It has to be recalled that he had hosted an extensive non-vegetarian lunch for thousands of Congress workers from Nanjangud at the foot of Chamundi Hill a couple of months ago. Thus, besides bypolls to Nanjangud and Gundlupet, which has become vacant due following the demise of cooperation minister H S Mahadeva Prasad, bypolls would have to be conducted for T Narsipur, in case Dr Mahadevappa wins the bypolls, sources add.