Bengaluru: Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda and his grandsons Prajwal Revanna and Nikhil Kumaraswamy have run into trouble in Karnataka ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
After weeks of dithering, Deve Gowda on Monday filed his nomination papers for the coming Lok Sabha elections from Tumkur. But he faces stiff opposition from his own alliance partner, the Congress. Sitting Congress MP SP Muddahanumegowda on Monday rebelled against his party and filed his papers against Gowda from Tumkur.
Muddahanumegowda said his supporters and many Congressmen wanted him to contest. He asked Gowda to stand from Bengaluru North and leave Tumkur to him. The lawmaker says he expects his party to capitulate. “The people are with me and I’m confident that the party would also come to my rescue,” he said. The Congress says the allotment of Tumkur was party chief Rahul Gandhi’s decision.
The biggest challenge before the Congress and JD(S) leaders in Tumkur is to convince party workers to cooperate, failing which the BJP will take advantage of the split. Congress workers are also upset at the last minute decision of Deve Gowda to contest from Trumakuru.
Admitting that discontent is brewing on the ground, a senior Congress leader said: “Our party workers have announced that they will not work for the JD(S) in Hassan, Mandya and Tumakuru. We are looking at new models for problem-solving and dialogue as we are low on time.” Explaining the flip flops over his decision to contest, Gowda said, “I have worked as a Lok Sabha MP for 29 years, that’s why I had said I won’t contest elections”.
But “Farooq Abdullah, Mamata Banerjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad and many leaders, including my friends, suggested that I contest,” added the former Prime Minister. Tumkur votes on April 18 — the last date of withdrawal of nomination is Thursday. The former Prime Minister gave up his Hassan seat for grandson Prajwal Revanna. His other grandson, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, is contesting from Mandya, the other seat won by the JDS in 2014.
In Mandya, Congress workers defied orders by participating in a procession accompanying independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh when she filed her nomination last week. Sumalatha is taking on chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil.
At least half-a-dozen former Congress MLAs in Mandya are working behind the scenes to ensure Nikhil’s defeat. Confronted by the arduous task of winning over local leaders, Kumaraswamy has decided to reserve three days of his campaign time for Nikhil. The BJP has also pledged support for Sumalatha, making Nikhil’s victory near impossible.
In Hassan, the situation is getting personal, with local Congress leaders slamming the party for forging a coalition with Gowda and allowing his grandson Prajwal Revanna to contest. Hassan district Congress leaders, when summoned by Siddaramaiah to iron out differences, said: “We will support Prajwal only if his father (public works minister) Revanna, who is known to be religious, swears in the name of the god that he will not trouble us in future.”
