BJP Nominates Former Karnataka Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha For Tirupati Lok Sabha Bypoll

Former Chief Secretary (CS) of Karnataka K Ratna Prabha has been nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency.

Ratna Prabha was the third woman CS of Karnataka when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister. She is a retired IAS officer who joined BJP in 2019 after serving the state for 37 years. Her father K Chandrayya, her husband Vidya Sagar and brother Pradeep Chandra had also served as AP cadre IAS officers.

On Thursday (26 March), Prabha expressed her happiness and gratitude for the candidature over a tweet.

She said, “I am so very grateful and thankful to our Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modiji, Shri Amit Shahji, Shri JP Nadaji,Shri Santoshji, Shri Som Veeraju Garu,Sunil Deodharji & Shri Pawan Kalyan for reposing faith & confidence in my candidature for Tirupathi Bye Elections.I will do my best.”

“Tirupathi the most sacred & divine power rests here. It's God's will that i serve the people out there..Destiny! Thank you to the BJP & RSS leadership for this sudden surprise..It’s not a dream.. It’s real. Will take some time to sink in..” she added.

Sunil Deodhar, the national secretary of BJP and co-in-charge of party affairs in the state also congratulated her over a tweet on Thursday (25 March).

The Tirupati constituency seat for the scheduled caste reserved category fell vacant last year after the death of sitting MP Balli Durga Prasad in September 2020. He had died due to a heart attack while recovering from Covid-19.

The list released by the BJP has names of nine candidates for as many assembly by-polls to be held across six states. The elections for these seats will be held on 17 April and the results will be announced on 2 May.

The ruling YRS Congress has nominated Dr M Gurumurthy for the by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency seat.

YSR Congress president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had last Friday asked them to spare no effort to secure victory for their candidate M Gurumurthy, cautioning the party against being overconfident, reports News18.