Family matters: Suraj Revanna gets Hassan seat

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The Deve Gowda family is all set to augment its presence in the corridors of power with Suraj Revanna, son of former minister and Holenarasipur MLA, H.D. Revanna, declared as the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate from Hassan for the Legislative Council poll to be held on December 10. Suraj is the grandson of JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda and belongs to the third generation of the family entering politics.

Suraj’s candidature was officially announced by JD(S) State President H.K. Kumaraswamy at a press conference here on Thursday. The thirty-two-yearold will be filing his nomination papers tomorrow (Friday) at 12:30 pm. His father, Revanna and mother, Bhavani Revanna will accompany him.

Suraj has done his MD in Medicine but is not a practising doctor. He has been involved in political activities and has campaigned for his grandfather, brother, father and mother. The party first offered the Hassan ticket to his mother, Bhavani but she declined to contest and so, the ticket was given to Suraj.

With the tenure of sitting MLC M.A. Gopalaswamy set to end on January 5, 2022, Deve Gowda had dropped hints that his daughterin-law or grandson would contest the Council polls. He had claimed that there was pressure from district MLAs, MLCs and elected representatives of local bodies to field someone from the Gowda family. Former CM, H.D. Kumaraswamy had also stated that he had no objection to the ticket being given to Suraj Revanna.

Another son of Revanna, Prajwal, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hassan in the 2019 elections. Bhavani is a former member of Hassan ZP while Kumaraswamy’s wife, Anitha Kumaraswamy has been representing Ramanagara in the Assembly. Her son, Nikhil Kumaraswamy had unsuccessfully contested from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat. The family patriarch, Deve Gowda lost from Tumakuru LS seat but later got elected to the Rajya Sabha.