Kumaraswamy may contest LS polls if Modi & Shah want him to, says ex-PM Deve Gowda

PTI, Jan 25, 2024, 7:46 PM IST

JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Thursday indicated that his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy may contest upcoming Lok Sabha polls, if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah want him to do so.

BJP and JD(S) have ready joined hands and struck an alliance in Karnataka to fight the ruling Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“Kumaraswamy… leave aside the speculations, don’t know what Modi will say. In case he says he (Kumaraswamy) has to contest parliament polls, he may contest from anywhere, he has no issues, whether it is Mandya or even Tumakuru or Chikkaballapura, he is being invited to contest from many seats,” Gowda said responding to a question whether Kumaraswamy will contest Lok Sabha polls from Mandya.

“It is for Modi and Shah to decide, if Kumaraswamy has to come to Delhi.” “But, according to my knowledge, no such discussions have taken place so far. There are speculations about taking Kumaraswamy to Delhi and making him Minister in the central cabinet, but no such discussions have happened before me,” the former Prime Minister added.

Asked whether his grandson and Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy will contest the Lok Sabha polls, the JD(S) supremo said, Kumaraswamy is against fielding him, and he will have to decide on it.

“About Nikhil Kumaraswamy, Kumaraswamy feels that he should not contest, but in Mandya party leaders have made an unanimous resolution demanding either Nikhil Kumaraswamy or Kumaraswamy has to contest from there, but Kumaraswamy has to give his approval to it, if he approves he (Nikil) will contest, if not no,” he said.

“He (Kumaraswamy) feels that both him and his son should not be contesting, as they will have to lead the party and its campaign.”

Nikhil Kumaraswamy had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha from Mandy seat against actress-turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent candidate supported by the BJP. He had also lost the 2023 Assembly polls from the party bastion of Ramanagara to Congress candidate H A Iqbal Hussain.

Noting that JD(S) has a sitting Member of Parliament from his home turf of Hassan, Gowda indicated that his other grandson Prajwal Revanna will seek re-election from the constituency in the Lok Sabha polls.

“There were speculations that I will contest from Hassan, many tried to create this impression that Gowda has to contest his last election from Hassan, but I said, I will not contest. I’m now 91 years, in three months, on May 18, I will complete 91. So in this constituency I will try to ensure that people support sitting MP Prajwal Revanna,” he said.

Gowda said Kumaraswamy recently had a first round of meeting with state leaders of BJP like B S Yediyurappa, Basavaraj Bommai and B Y Vijayendra regarding seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls.

“Regarding the seat sharing I will not interfere, it is left to him (Kumaraswamy). I have not discussed how many seats will be given to us (JDS) and which are those seats. There are speculations about Mandya, Kolar, Tumakuru among others (from where JDS will field candidates), but it is yet to be decided,” he added.