Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Mar 25: Srikar Prabhu who was expelled from BJP after 2014 Lok Sabha polls for anti-party activities, has now announced that he would contest the upcoming Assembly election from Mangaluru South constituency as an independent.

49-year-old BA, LLB graduate, Prabhu who served as BJP's Dakshina Kannada district chief secretary, Mangaluru South president, and state working committee member is organizing a public meeting with his supporters on Sunday, March 25 at CV Nayak Hall, Kadri.

According to political analysts, Srikar Prabu, an active RSS member, could significantly damage BJP vote share in the constituency. J R Lobo from Congress is already set to get the ticket for Mangalore South, but BJP has still not decided its candidate as there is a big list of ticket aspirants. Ganesh Rao, Capt Brijesh Chowta, M B Puranik, Vedavyas Kamath, Badrinath Kamath are a few of the probables from BJP.

Srikar Prabhu declared that he is contesting the election not to take revenge on any party, or oppose anyone or even help anyone.

"It is true that I felt hurt when I was expelled from the BJP in 2014 unilaterally without even being given show-cause notice, even befor the Lok Sabha election results were out. I tried my best to give my version of the story to senior leaders, but no one was ready to listen to me. I have been doing social service behind the scenes for the last four years, and now I have decided that I should continue my public service as a people's representative. I agree that I have grown through the blessings of Sangh and its leaders.

"Atal Bihari Vajpayee is my role model, he is my inspiration. I am also a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I will continue to work for Modi in the next Lok Sabha elections without being identified with the BJP," says Prabhu.

Reacting to the news of Srikara Prabhu's decision to contest independent, a BJP leader from Mangalore who requested anonymity said that, this is the pressure tactics from Prabhu to bring him back to the party. It is kind of blackmail, many people try to do these things during the election time. This is also a way to make some money during this time. He does not have followers from BJP so there is no damage for BJP if he contests from anywhere. In fact, it will help BJP. If Nalin Kumar calls him and offers some post in BJP, he will readily accept and forget the past. This is nothing but pressure tactics."

It is interesting to see how BJP will react officially to the move of Srikar Prabhu