JD-S refuses Hassan ticket to Deve Gowda's daughter-in-law

The Janata Dal-Secular on Friday announced its second list of 50 candidates for the May 10 assembly elections in Karnataka.

Ending the suspense about the Hassan seat, the party has fielded H P Swaroop, overlooking the daughter-in-law of JD-S patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Bhavani Revanna, who had been firm on contesting from there.

The party initially announced a list of 49 candidates but subsequently added one more name.

The Hassan seat had become a major bone of contention as Bhavani Revanna, who had thrown her hat in the ring, refused to relent till the last minute, despite her brother-in-law and JD-S leader H D Kumaraswamy repeatedly making it clear that she would not be fielded, and instead a 'loyal party worker' would be made to contest.

Bhavani Revanna, a former Hassan zilla panchayat member is the wife of Kumaraswamy's elder brother H D Revanna.

She had the backing of her husband as well as her sons Prajwal Revanna, who is a Member of the Lok Sabha from Hassan, and Suraj Revanna, who is an MLC.

Announcing Swaroop's name as Hassan candidate, Kumaraswamy flanked by Revanna and JD-S state president C M Ibrahim said, "The name has been finalised with the consent of Revanna and Bhavani, and the blessings of H D Deve Gowda."

"Bhavani Revanna spoke to me this morning. Revanna and I have discussed and decided.... As Revanna has said yesterday, there can be no differences in the family as was being speculated in the media. Hassan's candidate has been finalised with the consent of Revanna and Bhavani Revanna," he said.

The rift within the Gowda family over the Hassan ticket had widened to the extent that Kumaraswamy had invoked the battle of 'Kurukshetra' in the epic Mahabharata to allege that some 'Shakunis' were trying to brainwash his brother Revanna.

With signs of the Hassan ticket issue creating a rift within the family, Gowda, who has not been actively involved in political activities for some time now due to age-related ailments, had recently had stepped in and held discussions with his two sons and Bhavani together, which, however, failed to break the deadlock.

Both Kumaraswamy and Revanna have since been maintaining that Gowda's word would be final on the Hassan ticket issue.

Stating that no one could drive a wedge between himself and Kumaraswamy, Revanna on Friday said he wanted Kumaranna (as Kumaraswamy is called with affection) to be the chief minister.

"I have always abided by Deve Gowda's words and I think it is my duty to do so....Bhavani had told (K A) Thippeswamy (party leader) one month ago that, to her, her father-in-law (Gowda) was important, and not an MLA post," he said.

Stating that he would abide by the decision of Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy, he added that he wanted to ensure that the JD(S) won all seven seats in Hassan district and the Parliamentary seat, in Gowda's lifetime.

Kumaraswamy, from the beginning, was keen on fielding H P Swaroop, a former Hassan zilla panchayat vice-president and son of former MLA late H S Prakash, from Hassan.

Hassan is the home district of Deve Gowda, and the party in the 2018 Assembly polls had won six out of seven segments, except the Hassan Assembly seat, which BJP's Preetham Gowda had won, making it the first ever win for the saffron party in the Vokkaliga-dominated district.

Among other names that find mention in the JD-S list are sitting MLAs H D Revanna (Holenarasipura), K S Lingesh (Belur), H K Kumaraswamy (Sakleshpur), and C N Balakrishna (Shravanabelagola).

Y S V Datta, who had quit JD-S and joined Congress but returned to the party recently after being denied a ticket there, has been fielded from Kadur. He was once a close confidant of Gowda.

Former Minister A Manju, who recently joined the party, has been fielded from Arakalagudu. He has earlier been with both Congress and BJP.

Subhas Chandra Rathod, who was the principal civil judge and Judicial Magistrate of First Class of Gadag who had quit his post to contest the Assembly elections, has been fielded from Chittapur constituency.

Following the death of Sindagi candidate Shivanand Patil Somajala, the party has fielded his widow Vishalakshi Shivanand as the candidate.

The JD-S had announced its first list of 93 candidates way back in December.