Prahlad Venkatesh Joshi takes a big leap for BJP

Prahlad Venkatesh Joshi, recognised as a weak candidate in the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 in Dharwad North, has emerged as strong politician in just seven years. Joshi was fielded as BJP candidate after Vijay Sankeshwar had quit the party and had become a headache for the BJP by floating a regional party called Kannada Naadu Party (KNP).

After his exit, BJP’s high command itself was in confusion to field a candidate. As Sankeshwar was from the Lingayat community, the party was looking at names like Jagadish Shettar and others from the same community. However, Joshi’s name was floated in party corners with lack of much confidence.

Meanwhile BS Patil, former chief secretary of the state government and Lingayat Guru Mata Mahadevi were chosen as candidates of Congress and the KNP respectively. As both were Lingayats, a major section of BJP workers themselves considered Joshi as weak candidate. However, Joshi disproved the opinion by defeating BS Patil by 83,000 votes.

Joshi, a businessman by profession and disciplined volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was instrumental in launching the Save Kashmir Movement in 1992. His activism was closely linked with national leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati. Even after becoming an MP, he is front runner activist in the region and has been involved in achieving milestones like bringing South Western Railway’s headquarters to Hubli and the Hubli-Ankola railway line.

Though he is son of a railway employee, he has been a successful industrialist and politician, for which he credits the RSS for developing a leadership quality in him. After being elected as state BJP president, he told DNA that he was happy to take the new responsibility.

Responding to queries over regional imbalance in the party’s state leadership, he stated, “No question of regionality arises. Of course myself and Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar hail from the same city, but one must not forget we have powerful leaders like Anant Kumar, R Ashok, KS Eshwarappa, DV Sadananda Gowda and Nalin Kumar Kateel from different regions of the state,” he explained.

@sangameshchilly