Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), on Monday, 19 December, became the first party to announce candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka.
Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s party announced the names of 93 candidates in its first list. A second list is expected to be released on Tuesday.
The party hopes to win 123 seats out of the total 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly.
The first list, released by JD(S) legislature party chief and Deve Gowda’s son HD Kumaraswamy, came in the midst of the former chief minister’s statewide outreach programme under Pancharatna Yatre.
Other than offering a “safe seat” to Kumaraswamy’s son and actor Nikhil Kumaraswamy in Ramanagara — a seat currently held by his mother and Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy — the list of 93 candidates had some special picks.
Nikhil is currently the president of the JD(S) Youth Wing.
Related: How JD(S) is already switching into poll mode
It’s all in the family
Kumaraswamy will contest once again from Channapatna constituency, the constituency adjoining the one allotted to his son. In the 2018 Assembly polls, Kumaraswamy had contested from both Ramanagara and Channapatna, polling 53.96 percent and 46.55 percent vote share, respectively.
Kumaraswamy retained Channapatna seat and resigned from Ramanagara. His wife Anitha Kumaraswamy was then elected from Ramanagara in a bypoll and is now stepping aside to make her son Nikhil Kumarawamy the candidate.
Ramanagara is seen as a safe seat for the JD(S) and is meant to ensure Nikhil’s win as a legislator, especially after his debut election — from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat in 2019 — ended in a debacle.
Although considered the JD(S)’ home turf, Nikhil Kumaraswamy lost in Mandya to Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent candidate. The Ramanagara Assembly seat is being seen as a fool-proof, sure-shot seat that will give a filip to Nikhil Kumaraswamy’s political career.
Family ties in the JD(S) list in not limited only to Kumaraswamy and Nikhil.
The party, it seems, hopes to woo miffed “giant slayer” from Chamundeshwari — GT Devegowda. The veteran JD(S) leader had defeated then incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah in his home constituency of Chamundeshwari in 2018 Assembly polls.
In the last few months, however, GT Devegowda had been in talks with Congress to jump ship, along with his son Harish Gowda. In the JD(S) first list, GT Devegowda has been declared as candidate from Chamundeshwari while his son will contest from neighbouring Hunsur.
JD(S) state president CM Ibrahim’s son CM Fayaz has been declared the candidate from Humnabad. Late JD(S) leader and former MLA Appaji Gowda’s daughter Sharada Appaji Gowda has been announced as candidate from Bhadravati.
The list, interestingly, does not feature Kumaraswamy’s elder brother and Holenarasipura MLA HD Revanna’s name.
The first family of JDS is facing an internal tug of war over Revanna’s wife Bhavani Revanna’s aspiration to contest Assembly elections. HD Revanna’s sons — Prajwal Revanna and Suraj Revanna — are MP and MLC, respectively.
Currently, seven members of the HD Devegowda family occupy or have occupied various elected posts.
Former prime minister Deve Gowda is a Rajya Sabha member while his grandson Prajwal Revanna is a Lok Sabha member. Kumaraswamy, Revanna and Anitha Kumaraswamy are MLAs. Suraj Revanna was elected as an MLC last year. Revanna’s wife and Suraj and Prajwal’s mother Bhavani Revanna is a former Zilla Panchayat member from Hassan.
Incumbents repeated
Other than Revanna, incumbent MLA from Arasikere and one of JD(S) most vocal legislator Shivalingegowda’s name too is missing from the list.
The first list of the JDS has retained many incumbent MLAs.
The list has steered clear of announcing any candidates for all seven constituencies of Hassan — which is seen as an exclusive forte of HD Revanna.
Prominent incumbent MLAs like Bandeppa Kashempur for Bidar South, AK Annadani from Malavalli, DC Thammanna for Maddur, CS Puttaraju for Melukote, Sa Ra Mahesh for KR Nagar have been retained.
