By : Manohar Yadavatti
The ruling Janata Dal Secular party much contrary to the general public perception is said to be making all out last ditch efforts to register a win in Mandya,Tumakuru and Hassan Lok Sabha constituencies if not the remaining other three constituencies having party candidates.
There are several reasons being put forth by the party bigwigs for anticipating such big surprise outcome quite contrary to the perceived notions being projected so for on local private TV channels and the social media.
A couple of TV channels have also aired the survey ‘findings’ about these three key constituencies which have suddenly become a cynosure to all political onlookers not in the host state alone but elsewhere across the country and abroad as well.While one channel which also holds the dubious distinction of being ‘bought’ over by the ruling party proclaimed that Nikhil Kumaraswamy,actor son of HD Kumaraswamy,Chief Minister will win by a huge margin of 1.80-2 lakh votes and another channel belonging to a national group hinted about his victory.
The latter claimed,according to a survey of six lakh people on the ground 43 percent of the people favored Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh,BJP supported Independent candidate and 58 percent of them hinted at her debacle!For Janata Dal Secular which was dubbed as ‘Father and sons’ party’ by none other than H Vishwanath,present state JDS president during 2014 Parliamentary elections when he was the Congress candidate in Mysuru,winning in these three constituencies has literally become a matter of political life and death?
The seriousness with which HD Devegowda and family is sweating day and night to somehow wrest the three constituencies probably will later become an interesting chapter of the state’s political history.
As reported earlier the JDS which initiated its bargaining tactics demanding 12 out of the 28 constituencies slowly climbed down to 10 and later settled at 08.In spite of knowing very well that the coalition partner doesn’t even have enough candidates to contest from all these eight constituencies,the state leaders preferred to keep mum following the deal clinched by none other than Rahul Gandhi,AICC president himself.But even after swallowing the embarrassment the Congress leaders had another surprise later as the JDS didn’t get suitable contestants at Bengaluru North andUdupi-Chikmagalur.So eventually both of them were returned to the Congress fold to contest.
The embarrassment to the JDS itself was no less either as the octogenarian party supremo HD Devegowda himself had to rush to the home of Krishna Byregowda,state Rural Development Minister in order to pester the latter to enter the electoral fray.It was the same case at Udupi-Chikmagalur as well and Pramod Madhwaraj,former district in charge Congress minister who lost miserably from Udupi during the May 2018 Assembly elections was chosen to fight the elections.The Bharatiya Janata Party as expected has made the contesting JDS candidates in Mandya,Tumakuru and Hassan an electoral issue pooh poohing the grandfather and grandchildren jumping into the electoral fray with scant respect to loyal cadres since decades.
There have been enough rumblings over the issue within the Janata Dal Secular party cadre itself with die hard stances of pro and against such a major decision.However Kamalkumar,who till recently was a staunch supporter of the saffron party in Hassan switching over to the JDS on the eve of elections strongly defends the decision:There could have been no better opportunity like the present one to introduce the grandchildren to public life.
HD Devegowda is aging and its but for natural to handover the political mantle to the third generation as HD Kumaraswamy himself is also ailing from heart related problems,he stresses.On the query why only grandchildren and not party workers toiling since the age of grandchildren,Kamalkumar argues like a seasoned lawyer:Of late there’s been a lot of ongoing debate in the media and public platforms about the grandchildren becoming the political heir.One should understand a ground reality here,none of the family members have ever made an back door entry into politics though there were ample opportunities had they desired so?
He also recalls the experience of HD Devegowda family in introducing ordinary workers to main stream politics and the humiliating agony of the latter ditching the family after enjoying the fruits of power…HK Jawaregowda without even spending a rupee was made a Rajya Sabha member but he preferred to desert the party later!HK Jawaregowda is not just an isolated case…There are any number of such similes who have been made MLAs’,MLCs’ and MPs’ but most of them have taken pride in ditching the family rather than staying back during testing times and rough weather,claims Kushalkumar.For introducing anyone in politics you need heavy investment and who’ll come forward to do it for a novice,he shot back on persistent queries about the compulsion of taking shelter through family members alone.
Although the party has the word secular in its name but for all practical purposes JDS is completely dependent upon the Vokkaliga community spread over a handful of districts in the old Mysuru(South Karnataka) region for political existence!Mahesh,a fertilizers shop owner at Malavalli reserve Assembly constituency in Mandya district sums it up:All the eight Assembly constituencies of Mandya district have JDS MLAs’ apart from the sitting MP.Vokkaligas are hardcore Janata Dal Secular admirers…If you take a blood sample of any Vokkaliga and test the DNA,then you are bound to get it as JDS!At the same time he is quick enough to admit:Yes there are woes among JDS and INC workers over local problems and persons…so a possibility of 20-25 percent of INC votes going to BJP supported Independent candidate and an equal proportion of them coming to Nikhil Kumaraswamy from the opposite camp cannot be ruled out.
One thing is crystal clear:The Devegowda family is facing an acid test like never before and the jittery can be seen in open as chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has been camping in Mandya district since past three days.The plight of HD Revanna,Public Works Department Minister looks to be much worse as he hasn’t dared to move out of Hassan district but for a nominal times to Mandya and Tumakuru.
Prajwal Revanna,son of HD Revanna is the party candidate in Hassan constituency,passed on to grandson by HD Devegowda who represented it five times.So apart from the media abuzz in favor of Ms Sumalatha in Mandya and the BJP candidates of Tumakuru and Hassan,it would be foolish to right off the JDS all that easily.
Many a old hag utter:Devegowda family has all along been in politics for life time and elections to them are child’s play.May be the adverse situation is being projected as lopsided to them but they are no novice like their detractors.On the other hand they are champions in bulldozing the opponents like never before and if you take into account the amount of money,liquor and muscle power they are prepared to unleash the results could be anything much more than what’s being projected in some circles now.
