Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda is all set for his last battle at Tumkur constituency as a JD(S) –Congress alliance candidate. The patriarch dreams to play a major political role in the national politics by making Karnataka a platform for the Opposition unity or gathbandhan. A political maverick, Devegowda, intends to give his regional party JD(S) a boost and has cleverly joined hands with the Congress to fight the communal BJP.
At the age of 86, he proved his moves right, thus making his son HD Kumaraswamy Chief Minister of the State with just 33 MLAs and another son, HD Revanna, a PWD Minister. He introduced his two grandsons to contest from Mandya, the Cauvery heart land and Hassan to carry on the family affair of the party. This has angered many in the vokkaliga party and has to face the rebellion across old Mysuru region.
He has sacrificed his traditional Hassan constituency seat to his grandson Prajwal Revanna( son of PWD Minister HD Revanna) and in Mandya another grandson and film actor Nikhil Kumaraswamy is contesting. This has evoked strong protests within the rank and files. Even though Gowda and his sons justified the family business of the party, many insiders feel threatened and criticise the political moves of him.
At Tumakuru he is fighting BJP’s GS Basavaraj, a war horse who had won the seat thrice on Congress ticket and once on BJP’s ticket. Basavraj is a Lingayat and the two dominant communities both Vokkaliga and a Lingayat are fighting here . Devegowda had till the last moment the fear of rebellion by sitting MP Muddahanumegowda of the congress who was pressurised to withdraw as part of the coalition dharma. Another Congress rebel KN Rajanna was also asked to withdraw in favour of HD Devegowda. He had a sigh of relief.
According to the Election Commission of India’s 2009 data, the total electorates in the Tumkur Parliamentary constituency (constituency number 19) were 1,388,773 of which 683,193 are women and 705,580 are males. Congress’s SP Muddahanumegowda had won the 2014 election with a margin of nearly 75,000 votes, defeating his BJP rival GS Basavaraj.
Political pundits say it’s a tough battle for Devegowda. People of Tumakuru are angry with Gowda, Kumaraswamy and HD Revanna as they have opposed Hemavathi river water to parched districts of Tumakuru and other places. Former prime minister's potential to bounce back as he did by winning the Kanakapura byelection in 2002 after he had lost to COngress candidate G Puttaswamy Gowda in 1999 from Hassan.
Ticket denial by Congress to Muddahanume Gowda has created some discontentment within local Congress leadership. Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is a prominent from Tumakuru, had met Deve Gowda and requested him to return the seat to Congress if he was not contesting from the constituency.