Congress candidate M Lakshman, vying for the Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka, has stirred controversy by alleging that BJP’s Yaduveer Wadiyar is not a member of the royal family but rather an “adopted child”.
Addressing the reporters on Wednesday, Lakshman said: “Yaduveer does not belong to the Wadiyar royal family. What are the priorities of Yaduveer? Should he be elected just for raising his hand? Do we have to elect parliamentarians just for the sake of headcount?”
Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, a 31-year-old educated in the United States, was officially coronated as the titular head of the former Mysuru royal family on May 28, 2015, marking him as the 27th ‘King’ of the Wadiyar dynasty.
As the royals did not have children in the family, Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, the widow of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the last descendant of the Wadiyar dynasty, adopted Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs. Consequently, he was renamed Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.
On the promises made by Congress, Lakshman as per IANS said, “We have fulfilled all five guarantees as promised. If our government comes to power at the Centre, we will implement 25 guarantees. Has there been any communal violence in the last 10 months in Kodagu district after the Congress government came to power?”
Further, he added that “there was a system where communal hatred was encouraged” during the tenure of BJP.
The Congress candidate criticized the BJP, stating that promises made in the previous general election, such as transforming Mysuru into Paris and developing Kodagu like Switzerland, were not fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Lakshman also released his own manifesto for the constituency. Lakshman’s manifesto promised to revive the heritage structures of Mysuru and Kodagu by drawing inspiration from Jaipur’s model with a focus on establishing a dedicated authority for heritage conservation. The Congress nominee vowed to procure funds totaling Rs 3,000 crore from the Central government for this endeavour.
He committed to addressing the challenges facing coffee growers and ensuring the well-being of pepper and cardamom farmers through a tailored support package.
Karnataka is set to vote in Lok Sabha elections in two phases on April 26 and May 7.
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