JD(S) introspects on bypoll loss; to hold meeting soon

Influential Vokkaliga pontiff Nirmalanandanatha Swami of the Adichunchanagiri Mutt visited JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda at his Padmanabhanagar residence Tuesday, even as the regional party’s leadership spent the day analyzing its drubbing in the recent bypolls.

The seer spent about half-an-hour with Gowda and the two are said to have discussed, among other things, the recent bypolls results in which the JD(S) failed to win a single seat.

Gowda’s Padmanabhanagar home later became the venue for a meeting with former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and JD(S) state president H K Kumaraswamy. In the bypolls, the JD(S) could not retain Hunsur, KR Pet and Mahalakshmi Layout constituencies that it won last year. That the BJP won KR Pet, a constituency the JD(S) considered as its stronghold, has dealt a huge body blow to the party’s leadership.

“We were confident of winning 3-4 seats,” Kumaraswamy, the party’s state president, told reporters. “I think we lost KR Pet because we were overconfident. Also, our choice of candidates might have been another reason for our defeats. Soon, a meeting of all the party’s MLAs will be convened to discuss the bypolls results,” he said.

Asked whether former minister G T Devegowda was behind the party’s defeat in Hunsur, Kumaraswamy said, “Devegowda has left our party mentally quite some time ago.”

Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna also visited Gowda’s residence for talks. “In KR Pet, the Congress votes shifted to the BJP while we were able to retain our own votes,” he said.

It is also speculated that Prajwal has eyes fixed on the post of JD(S) youth wing president, which is currently held by his cousin Nikhil Kumaraswamy. “I am ready to fulfill any responsibility that Deve Gowda decides for me,” he said.