The conundrum: Will it be two or four from the Gowda family?

Mixed signals sent by top JD(S) leaders have left the second rung confused

Anitha Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna have time and again expressed desire to contest the 2018 Assembly polls.

Will just two members from JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda’s family contest the coming Assembly elections or will the number double as the polls near?

While Mr. Gowda has on more than one occasion insisted that it will be no more than two, his sons H.D. Kumaraswamy and H.D. Revanna, two more from the family appear keen to throw their hats in the ring.

Channapatna again?

While Mr. Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna has occasionally expressed his desire to contest, Mr. Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy too has explicitly said that she wants to try her luck again at the hustings.

Speaking in a television interview in Thursday, Ms. Anita said she was interested in contesting and that her supporters in Channapatna, where she lost last time, had promised to work for her victory.

She added the caveat that it is finally up to the party’s State and national presidents to decide.

In response, Mr. Kumaraswamy, who too has maintained that only two from the family will contest, has said that the desire to contest is but natural.

He, however, said that Mr. Prajwal is too young and needs maturity. He too said that his father would take the final call.

Ms. Anitha is keen on contesting from Channapatna Assembly constituency, where she lost in 2013. She had contested from Madhugiri constituency and won in 2008.

Mr. Prajwal, who has shown interest in contesting since the 2013 elections when he was just 23, has of late been in the middle of the media glare for his statements, sometimes against seniors in the party.

Interestingly, Mr. Deve Gowda, during his recent visit to Hassan, suggested that Mr. Prajwal may be the right person to replace him in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 polls to spike rumours about him entering electoral politics in 2018.

Meanwhile, yet another grandson Nikhil Gowda, actor and son of Mr. Kumaraswamy, has for now restricted himself to campaigning. Though he had at one point shown interest in entering politics, he said that his primary concern now is campaigning, especially since his father recently underwent a surgery.

“I will campaign for him in Ramanagaram with a team of party workers,” Mr. Nikhil said.

Confusing signals

The mixed signals being sent by the top leaders in recent days has the second-rung leaders in the party confused.

They are not ruling out of the possibility of three, if not four from the family, contesting the next polls.

“Finally, it is the victory chances of the candidate that matters. Mr. Gowda and Mr. Kumaraswamy might be forced to field Ms. Anitha and Mr. Prajwal if they see them as winnable candidates,” said party sources.