Kumaraswamy sure to contest from Mandya

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: It has come to light that JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy is all but certain to contest from Mandya. Kumaraswamy is the sitting MLA from Channapatna in Ramanagara district.

In addition to this, incumbent JD(S) MP from Hassan Prajwal Revanna will also contest from his seat again.

Prajwal is the grandson of JD(S) national president and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and the son of party MLA from Holenarasipura HD Revanna.

Kumaraswamy had been rather candid on Thursday when he said that there was pressure on him from party workers to contest Lok Sabha elections.

“There is pressure to contest from workers in Tumakuru, Chikkaballapura, Mandya and Bengaluru Rural,” Kumaraswamy said.

The comments came in the backdrop of seat sharing arrangement talks between the BJP and the JD(S) for the general elections.

The seat sharing formula is likely to be finalised after the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on Monday.

Meanwhile, the former chief minister’s son Nikhil added to the intrigue by suggesting that he “won’t sit at home simply because I lost an election".

They made the comments to mediapersons in New Delhi on Thursday. Apart from Mandya and Hassan, the BJP might concede one more seat in the Old Mysuru Vokkaliga heartland to the JD(S).

The options given to the regional party are Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru and Kolar. Nikhil Kumaraswamy had 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 of more than 1,25,000 votes to BJPbacked independent Sumalatha Ambareesh.