Veteran BJP MP V Sreenivasa Prasad Passes Away At 76

V Sreenivasa Prasad, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament representing Chamarajanagar in Karnataka and former Union minister, passed away at the age of 76 on Monday. Sources close to his family confirmed that the BJP MP was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bengaluru.

A six-time MP from Chamarajanagar and two-time MLA from Nanjangud in Mysuru district, Prasad had been in poor health for some time. He is survived by his wife and three daughters.

Expressing his condolences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Monday that he is deeply saddened by the demise of senior leader and MP from Chamarajanagar, Shri V. Sreenivasa Prasad Ji. He dedicated his life to the welfare of the poor, downtrodden, and marginalized, championing social justice.

He was widely respected for his philanthropic endeavors. My heartfelt condolences to his family and supporters. Om Shanti, he added.

On March 18 of this year, Prasad announced his retirement from electoral politics, concluding a nearly 50-year-long career in public service. He began his political journey with the erstwhile Janata Party in 1976, later joining the Congress in 1979. Prasad also had affiliations with the JD(S), JD(U), and the Samata Party before ultimately joining the BJP.

During his tenure, Prasad served as the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004. He later returned to the Congress, winning the MLA seat in 2013 and serving as the revenue and religious endowment minister in the Siddaramaiah government.

In 2016, Prasad resigned from the Karnataka Assembly and rejoined the BJP. Though he lost the 2017 Nanjangud bypolls on a BJP ticket, he emerged victorious in the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Chamarajanagar.