Pressure was building up on former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to either enter the poll fray from Mandya Lok Sabha constituency or field his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
A meeting of the JD(S) held in Mandya on Friday to discuss the coming elections, which the party will fight in alliance with the BJP, saw party supporters rooting for the candidature of either Mr. Kumaraswamy or his son Nikhil. The supporters, who had gathered for the event, shouted slogans and interrupted the proceedings with cries for entry of Mr. Kumaraswamy or his son in the poll fray.
Former MP and JD(S) leader C.S. Puttaraju, who was among the probable candidates of the party, too stood up and said Mr. Kumaraswamy or Mr. Nikhil should file the nomination papers for the elections.
Responding positively to the calls for his or Nikhil’s candidature, Mr. Kumaraswamy told the gathering that the party leadership will take a decision that does dash your hopes. “You have expressed your aspirations and we will not dash them. Our leaders will sit and take a decision as per your wishes,” Mr. Kumaraswamy assured the party supporters.
Dead even if alive
Seeking to emphasize how critical was a victory to the JD(S) in Mandya constituency in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Kumaraswamy said a loss to the party was “akin to being dead even if alive”.
He said he has still accepted the defeat of Mr Nikhil Kumaraswamy during the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 from Mandya. “The people of Mandya had blessed him and had not defeated him. He lost because of political deceit,” he said.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said he had faith in the people of Mandya that they would stand by the party. The JD(S) leader also revealed that he will be undergoing surgery on March 21 and will be returning on either March 24 or 25 to announce the party candidate for Mandya Lok Sabha constituency.
The party’s youth wing leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy also spoke on the occasion and victory and loss in elections is party of politics. Contestants will not be confined to their homes if they lose elections, he said.
Meanwhile, JD(S) leader G.T. Deve Gowda, who also spoke during the meeting, attributed Mr. Nikhil’s loss in the 2019 elections to the decision of then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to bring the body of film actor Ambareesh to Mandya after his death. Mr. Gowda’s remark, however, did not go down well with the audience, which asked not to bring up the issue.
