Mysuru’s BJP MP Pratap Simmha has sparked a debate in political circles and general public by effecting a change in the spelling of his name.
The Mysuru MP, whose name was earlier spelt as ‘Prathap Simha’, said he had changed the spelling of his name by removing the ’H’ from his first name and adding ‘M’ to his second name to spell it as ‘Pratap Simmha’.
He contended that there was no need to make any changes to his name when written in Kannada or Hindi.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Tuesday, Mr. Simmha refused to deny that numerological considerations were not taken into account.
When asked if the changes to the spelling were made in view of the approaching elections to the Lok Sabha, Mr. Simmha said he had won in the last two elections and had faith in the voters. He expressed confidence of defeating the candidate fielded against him by the Congress in the coming elections by a margin of two lakh votes.
Though he will be the BJP’s candidate, Mr. Simmha said he was confident of securing votes from supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in all parties. In addition, the alliance with JD(S) will give an additional strength, he said.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Spokesperson M. Lakshmana claimed that Mr. Simmha was afraid of losing the polls and had changed the spelling of his name as per the advice of numerologists.
With regard to Mr. Simmha’s claim of defeating his Congress opponent by a margin of two lakh votes, Mr. Lakshmana, who is among the aspirants of Congress ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Mysuru, said the BJP MP’s claims would turn out to be exactly opposite. “He will lose by a margin of two lakh votes,” he said.
Responding to Mr. Simmha’s claims that he would secure the votes of Mr. Modi’s supporters in other parties also, Mr. Lakshmana said the MP was claiming the opposite of what will happen. “He will not secure votes of even supporters of BJP let alone people in other parties,” the Congress leader claimed.
