In a first clear statement on the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, former Chief Minister and head of the coalition coordination committee Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday that the seat would go to the Janata Dal (S) to field its candidate.
Speaking to presspersons in Hubballi, he said that since the JD(S) has a sitting MP in Mandya, the seat would not come to the Congress in the alliance seat sharing.
On the poll plans of film actor Sumalatha, he said it was up to her to contest as an Independent or not. “When the parliamentary seat does not come to the Congress in the alliance seat sharing, the question of giving it to Sumalatha does not arise,” he said.
He further clarified that discussions on the seat-sharing process were still on and things would be finalised in four or five days. He expressed confidence that under the alliance, the coalition partners would win more than 20 seats in the elections in Karnataka.
‘What’s wrong with dynastic politics?’
Meanwhile, speaking in Bengaluru, Transport Minister D.C. Thammanna said the JD(S) had embraced dynastic politics from the beginning and Nikhil Gowda, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, would be a better candidate from Mandya constituency than incumbent MP L.R. Shivarame Gowda.
Mr. Thammanna, a relative of former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda, defended the candidature of Mr. Nikhil, saying that “he is educated, young and knows what to do in the constituency after the elections”.
“There is dynastic politics everywhere, in all political parties. Only the percentage varies,” the Minister said.
Asked about the incumbent MP, Mr. Thammanna said all seven MLAs from Mandya district favour the candidature of Mr. Nikhil, whose candidature has already been announced by Mr. Gowda.
On the criteria for fielding the CM’s son, he said: “What is wrong in the candidature? Several leaders from outside the State were elected from Karnataka. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also contested elections [this way] and won.”
He added that Mr. Deve Gowda had struggled a lot to build the party and therefore, there was nothing wrong in fielding his grandsons in Lok Sabha elections.
Prajwal Revanna, son of Public Works Minister H.D. Revanna, is a probable candidate for Hassan constituency.
