Former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna rued the erosion of democratic values in the country and the growing strength of money power in elections in the present times.
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He was speaking at a function held to felicitate senior leader V. Srinivas Prasad who completed 50 years in electoral politics and has announced his retirement from it, on Sunday.
He said in the present scenario elections are contested and won on money power and candidates are known to spend over ₹100 crore to ₹150 crore.
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‘’It would have been impossible for me or Mr. Prasad to contest the elections in the present times’’, remarked Mr. Krishna, who severed his long association with the Congress before joining the BJP in 2017.
Mr. Krishna recalled the period when T.N. Seshan was the Chief Election Commissioner and said that politicians used to tremble given his strict and serious disposition and the measures he initiated. But the scenario is different in the current times, he added.
Mr. Krishna said there was a time when people used to pool in money to fund the candidature of leaders but it was not the case now, and remarked that unless there was introspection, besides regulation, over the use of money power, there cannot be genuine democracy.
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Recalling his association with Mr. Prasad, the former CM said that he first came into contact with him in a by-election in 1974 and traced his political growth over the next few decades.
He described Mr. Prasad’s life as an open book and recalled his contributions as an elected representative to the region.
Mr. Prasad said that he accidentally entered electoral politics on March 17, 1974, and was retiring on the same day after 50 years of political innings.
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Mr. Prasad was elected to Parliament from Chamarajanagar six times. He was elected as an MP in 1980 and was re-elected in 1984, 1989, 1991, 1999, and 2019, while he was member of the Legislative Assembly from 2008 to 2018.
Though Mr. Prasad was associated with the Congress for the greater part of his career, he hobnobbed with the Janata Party and its avatars and also the Samata Party before returning to the Congress fold, and then joined the BJP in 2016.
‘’I have worked as an MP for 27 years and seen seven Prime Ministers and their style of functioning from close quarters. If health permits I intend to write about them as well in the days ahead,” said Mr. Prasad, who also released his 122-page memoir recalling his childhood and political life.
During his speech, Mr. Prasad said that while he spent 27 years as an MP he was also engaged in State politics for eight years. Mr. Prasad said he was inspired by the life of B.R. Ambedkar while Dalit poet Siddalingaiah’s works deeply influenced him.
Mr. Prasad’s wife Bhagyalakshmi, MLA G.T. Deve Gowda, former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia, writer C.P. Krishna Kumar, and a large number of Mr. Prasad’s admirers and followers were present.