Kumaraswamy may agree to contest Lok Sabha polls

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The prospect of JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy contesting Lok Sabha elections looms large even as the party speculated that he might agree to it if the alliance insisted on it.

Kumaraswamy is currently an MLA from Channapatna. However, the BJP-JD(S) alliance partners are keen on fielding “heavyweights” so as to ensure a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

JD(S) is hoping to contest from at least four to five seats in the Vokkaliga heartland of Old Mysuru, where they have a presence.

One of the options the alliance partners is considering is Kumaraswamy contesting from Bengaluru Rural against incumbent DK Suresh, the younger brother of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

Interestingly, the JD(S) bigwig had won from the seat back in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Moreover, if Kumaraswamy wins, he may be rewarded with a Union ministry, it is being rumoured.

The other option reportedly is Kumaraswamy contesting from Mandya. There are two issues with this alternative. The first one being that the sitting MP from Mandya is BJPbacked independent Sumalatha Ambareesh.

She is unlikely to take kindly to being sidelined by the saffron party. She may well contest from the seat on her own strength. Sumalatha is not on good terms with Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar but they may bury the hatchet and may come to an understanding.

Nikhil Kumaraswamy contested on a JD(S) ticket from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat back in 2019. However, despite being in a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, he lost by a huge margin.

Since then, he has lost from the Ramanagara Assembly seat as well and his father has announced that he will be taking a break from electoral politics.