It’s Tumakuru for me in 2024: Deve Gowda

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Having left the Hassan Lok Sabha seat for his grandson, Prajwal Revanna, former PM and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has decided to contest in 2024 from Tumakuru Lok Sabha constituency where he had lost to G.S. Basavaraj of the BJP by a big margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In the previous LS elections, Deve Gowda, with a heavy heart and teary eyes, gave up Hassan for Prajwal in a bid to introduce him to national politics. In 2019, the Congress-JDS coalition government was in power and as per the agreement, Deve Gowda was declared the joint candidate despite strong opposition from local Congress workers.

While Prajwal won by a handsome margin, his grandfather, Deve Gowda lost to Basavaraj due to the alleged conspiracy of Congress leaders. Since then, the JD(S) patriarch had lost touch with the constituency since he was apparently pained over the attitude of a few local Congressmen who allegedly conspired against him.

Now, left with no option, Deve Gowda has been regularly visiting Tumakuru to be in touch with the local electorate. The district was a strong fortress of the JD(S) once upon a time with the party winning at least three to four Assembly seats of the total eight in each election. But due to the exodus of JD(S) leaders to the Congress and BJP, the party lost its base. Even if the former PM decides to contest from Tumakuru, there ae several risk factors involved as voters may consider him an ‘outsider’ and fear that their political growth would be affected if he was elected from the constituency. Besides, Deve Gowda stands a strong chance of winning the seat only if the JD(S) is able to emerge victorious in five to six seats in the 2023 Assembly polls. This at the moment looks next to impossible with no strong leader left in the JD(S) in the district.

A senior JD(S) leader told News Trail that the party was no longer a force to reckon with adding that many senior leaders had quit in search of greener pastures in the Congress and BJP. With no seniors left, it has become difficult for Deve Gowda or his son and former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy to make a dent in state politics, he felt.

Hitherto, the Janat Pariwar had tall leaders like Siddramaiah, M.P. Prakash, B.L. Shankar, D.B. Chandregowda and P.G.R. Sindhia but they had all left and joined the Congress or BJP due to Gowda’s clannish approach to politics and his promotion of his sons and kin. Had Deve Gowda promoted leaders other than his sons, the party would have still been a strong force in Karnataka politics.

“See the plight of the former PM who is forced to contest from another constituency and bank only on his community’s voters. Instead it is better to say adieu to state or national politics and be an mentor of the party”, he added.