Shamanur, son may join JD(S)

Speculations are rife in the district that senior Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa and his son, former minister S S Mallikarjun, will quit the Congress and join the JD(S). 

As if to strengthen the rumours, JD(S) State president H D Kumaraswamy, who was in the city, visited the residence of Shivashankarappa on Tuesday night and held a long discussion with the leader. The talks with Shivashankarappa and Mallikarjun lasted from 11.30 pm to 5 am. 

Former minister Bandeppa Kashempur and a couple of local leaders accompanied Kumaraswamy.

On Wednesday, it was the turn of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda to visit the Congress leader’s house, after the JD(S) convention in the city. Gowda and Shivashankarappa held talks till evening.  Political circles are now abuzz with rumours that the father-son duo may join the JD(S). Shivashankarappa has served as the City Municipal Council president, MLA and MP. He is presently the MLA from Davangere South. Mallikarjun had served as the sports and youth affairs minister in the S M Krishna government. 

Shivashankarappa, who built the Congress in Central and North Karnataka, has now been sidelined by the Congress without giving him any key position. 

Shivashankarappa had demanded that the party give the post of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president to a member of the Lingayat community, to which he belongs to. He had said that the sidelining of the community by the Congress had led the Lingayats to support the BJP.  But the party did not heed his advice.

It is said the JD(S) move to rope in Shivashankarappa and his son is aimed at strengthening the party in Central and North Karnataka by wooing the Lingayats.

‘CM will quit after Budget’

Kumaraswamy said he had come to know that Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda would resign after presenting the Budget, and hand over charge to his predecessor B S Yeddyurappa as per the deal struck by the RSS.

“If Gowda is planning to quit, he should do so now and not deceive the people of the State,” he told reporters in Hubli.