Mysuru royal family returns to politics after a gap of two decades

Yaduveer Wadiyar's BJP candidacy marks the return of Mysore's royal family to active politics after two decades.

The announcement of Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar as BJP’s candidate for the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday evening (March 13) also marks the return of the erstwhile royal family of Mysore’s return to active politics after a gap of two decades.

Ever since Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, four-time MP, lost the 2004 elections to the Lok Sabha from Mysuru constituency, the erstwhile royal family had gradually faded away from the political scene.

Mr. Srikantadatta entered the poll fray as a Congress candidate for the first time in the Lok Sabha elections of 1984 held in the wake of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination and emerged victorious. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha as a Congress candidate during the elections held in 1989.

However, Mr. Wadiyar shifted to the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections held in 1991 but lost the polls to Congress candidate Chandraprabha Urs. Subsequently, he returned to Congress and successfully contested the elections of 1996 and 1999. After his electoral rout in the elections of 2004, when he finished third behind BJP’s C.H. Vijayshankar and JD(S) candidate A.S. Guruswamy, the erstwhile royal family had steered clear of politics.

After Mr. Srikantadatta’s death in 2013, his wife Pramoda Devi too spurned invitations from different political parties and instead concentrated on the legal battles related to the properties of the erstwhile royal family.

As Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar died childless, Pramoda Devi adopted Yaduveer, the grandson of Gayathri Devi, who is eldest daughter of last Maharaja of Mysuru Sri Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar and sister of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, as the royal heir in 2015. Son of Tripura Sundari Devi and Swarup Anand Gopal Raj Urs, Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs was formally rechristened as Yaduveer Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar at a ceremony in Mysuru Palace in February 2015.

Mr. Yaduveer, who is around 32 years of age and has obtained a degree from the University of Massachusetts in the U.S., is married to Trishika Kumari Wadiyar, who hails from the Dungarpur royal family of Rajasthan. Trishika Kumari’s father Harshavardhan Singh had served a term as BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP.