Regional party might field one of three sitting legislators from district
With the disgruntled Congress leader C K Jaffer Sharief making a U-turn, denying to switch over to the Janata Dal (Secular) party, the regional party is put into a fix in finding a suitable candidate for the Mysore-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency.
The party has launched an operation to zero in on a fitting contender among sitting MLAs G T Devegowda and Sa Ra Mahesh and incumbent MLC Sandesh Nagaraj.
Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, who is camping in the city to finalise the candidate, on Monday, addressed the party workers on the premises of Sa Ra Bhavan. At one point, Kumaraswamy said: “I would have happily jumped into the fray from Mysore-Kodagu seat, had I not decided to contest from Chikkaballapur”.
Kumaraswamy exhorted the party workers to give him power to unanimously decide on fielding one among the three legislators from the district — Chamundeshwari MLA G T Devegowda, K R Nagar MLA Sa Ra Mahesh and MLC Sandesh Nagaraj.
Reluctant
Though the party workers made some noise favouring both Devegowda and Mahesh, the two legislators seemed reluctant. When two more persons recommended the name of Devegowda, there was a round of applause from the party workers, especially from Sandesh Nagaraj and Mahesh, who looked relieved.
Eventually, Devegowda, who spoke his mind, appealed to the party workers to work hard, as the BJP fared poor in the rural pockets like Chamundeshwari, Periyapatna and Hunsur in the previous Assembly elections.
The candidate, whoever it could be, will be a namesake, and the party workers should consider the party supremo H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy as the real nominees.
Prior to the convention, Kumaraswamy was closeted with the party legislators and prominent leaders at a hotel in Nazarbad.
He also called on G T Devegowda couple at their residence in Vijayanagar. If not Gowda, Kumaraswamy wanted at least his wife and incumbent ZP member Lalitha to take the plunge. But, nothing worked in his favour, forcing Kumaraswamy to coerce the party workers at the convention to exert pressure on the aforementioned legislators.
