Kumaraswamy to contest from Mandya, nephew Prajwal from Hassan — JD(S) declares candidates in 3 seats
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Bengaluru: The Janata Dal (Secular) has declared that H.D. Kumaraswamy, two-time previous chief minister of Karnataka, will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from Mandya, ending months of suspense about his candidature and managing to get its way towards its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The JD(S) will now contest on its personal from Mandya, Kolar and Hassan.
Prajwal Revanna, Kumaraswamy’s nephew and previous PM H.D. Deve Gowda’s grandson, will contest from Hassan, and M. Mallesh Babu is the JD(S) candidate from Kolar, in accordance to an formal statement from the occasion late Friday.


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Kumaraswamy will contest from Mandya, from in which his actor-son, Nikhil, was defeated in 2019 by BJP-backed unbiased Sumalatha Ambareesh.
The 64-calendar year-aged has considering that tried out to get one particular back again in opposition to the actress-turned-politician for scuttling his son’s electoral debut.On Thursday, Kumaraswamy hinted at burying the hatchet with Sumalatha, stating that the latter was not his “permanent enemy”. Though he has not formally arrived at out to her, Kumaraswamy will have to have all the assistance he can get in opposition to Congress’s Venkataramanegowda, or Star Chandru, in Mandya.The Congress, in ability in Karnataka, declared its candidates months in the past and the celebration has previously kickstarted its poll marketing campaign, although the BJP and JD(S) held off on asserting their final decision until eventually late Friday.Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats.
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Retaining bastions
At any time due to the fact the BJP and JD(S) stitched an alliance, the latter has demanded three-four seats to contest on though the former was trying to settle at two, people today conscious of the developments told ThePrint.Dr C.N. Manjunath, Deve Gowda’s son-in-legislation and former director of the condition-run Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Analysis, is the BJP’s candidate from Bengaluru Rural and will take on the Congress heavyweight D.K. Suresh.The JD(S) has not experienced a lot more than three seats in Parliament prior to, but was unwilling to concede its bastions to the even larger ally. Analysts say that the alliance has served the JD(S) retain its flock with each other after inside problems have been beginning to generate a lot of of its legislators and leaders into the arms of the Congress and the BJP.
The BJP, on the other hand, is making an attempt to make inroads into the southern districts or “Old Mysuru” region, in which it has little or no existence, with the assistance of the JD(S). The Mandya seat falls in the area.JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda has also mostly commanded assistance of the dominant Vokkaliga community in Outdated Mysuru.But if the May 2023 assembly elections are anything to go by, then the 3 JD(S) candidates will not have it effortless.Immediately after getting gained all eight seats in the Mandya district in 2018, the JD(S) was decreased to just just one seat in 2023, with the Congress sweeping 6 and a single going to an unbiased in the sugarcane growing region.
In the same way, in Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, JD(S)’ tally arrived down to 4 assembly seats in 2023 from seven in 2018. In the eight seats underneath Kolar parliamentary constituency, the JD(S) won 3 and the Congress bagged the remaining.“We never want to give up the seats in which we have a strong ground existence. This would guide to a disconnect between the bash and its staff,” a JD(S) chief explained to ThePrint.The Congress is banking on last year’s results to tide above the BJP-JD(S) alliance this time around.Uncertainty for Sumalatha
In 2019, Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of yesteryear Kannada actor and previous minister Ambareesh, scripted history by getting the to start with-at any time independent MP from Karnataka.
In the significant-decibel election, she defeated Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of the then sitting down CM, in Mandya by in excess of 1 lakh votes. This dealt a hefty blow to Kumaraswamy and widened the rift among the JD(S) and Congress, who experienced ongoing their write-up-poll alliance from 2018 into the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.At any time due to the fact, quite a few JD(S) legislators and ministers have targeted Sumalatha.On Thursday, even though, Kumaraswamy tried out to make amends.“The late Ambareesh and I were being mates, which is recognised to all. Sumalatha experienced served me and Ambareesh foodstuff. We are not enemies. I am self-assured that she will bless me,” Kumaraswamy claimed at the “coordination meeting” of the BJP and JD(S) in Mandya.
Sumalatha has mentioned she will announce her following stage just after discussing it with her supporters.“(BJP point out president) B.Y. Vijayendra expressed his belief and expectations. I, much too, told him about my issues for the district and election. He questioned me to be a part of the bash as he preferred me to stay with the BJP. Tomorrow my supporters are coming. I told him that I will not get any selection unilaterally with no consulting my supporters. It is my responsibility to listen to their expectations and opinions. I instructed him that I will make my stand very clear in Mandya by itself,” Sumalatha instructed the media following a assembly with Vijayendra in Bengaluru Friday.She was hoping to retain the seat as a BJP prospect this time all-around and had met all senior central leaders of the BJP, like Key Minister Narendra Modi, to make her situation.“I have introduced my scenario indicating that if the BJP receives the seat, it can create the social gathering there mainly because when in contrast to other spots, it does not have a incredibly strong foundation in Mandya however. And if we give up this seat, it will be really demanding in the coming situations,” Sumalatha told ThePrint.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Vijayendra said that “all concerns are being mentioned by our central leaders”. “I am confident… Sumalatha has her own strength and duty to have ahead the legacy of Ambareesh… keeping all this in head, I imagine she will make a good selection.”Fourth Lok Sabha bid
Kumaraswamy entered electoral politics in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections from Kanakapura, marking the entry of Deve Gowda’s next loved ones member (right after H.D. Revanna) into public lifestyle. The Gowda dynasty now spans a few generations with nine customers at the moment energetic politically.Revanna, Gowda’s more mature son, experienced successfully contested from Holenarasipur assembly seat in 1994 and has utilised this to manage an iron grip about the district of Hassan, beneath which the seat falls.A film producer and distributor until finally his 1996 debut, Kumaraswamy sparked fissures within the Gowda home with his political entry in excess of who would choose management of the JD(S) — a battle that has manifested in numerous forms till date.
Kumaraswamy was defeated in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections from the exact same seat and he waited till 2004 to enter the Karnataka assembly. He had also allied with the BJP in 2006, just two several years after the JD(S) pulled away from the Dharam Singh-led federal government, in coalition with the Congress in Karnataka.At the time, Kumaraswamy experienced purportedly carried out so in opposition to the wishes of Gowda and then grew to become CM for the very first time. Each leaders ended up the initially father-son duo to be CM of a state. Gowda was CM in 1994 and then Primary Minister two many years afterwards.The first BJP-JD(S) alliance lasted just around a yr, being premised on an arrangement that Kumaraswamy and veteran BJP chief B.S. Yediyurappa would get turns to turn out to be CM. A week just after Kumaraswamy gave up the CM’s chair to Yediyurappa, the former pulled out of the alliance that helped the BJP to achieve significantly and turn into the one premier social gathering in the 2008 point out elections.Kumaraswamy yet again went back again to the Lok Sabha in 2009 after delimitation. He has also contested from Ramanagara and Channapatna assembly seats.
Kumaraswamy experienced fielded his son Nikhil from Ramanagara assembly seat in 2023, but he misplaced the poll. If the former CM does manage to earn Mandya this time around, he is likely to area Nikhil from Channapatna, people informed of the developments instructed ThePrint.(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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