Kempegowda Jayanthi: State event excludes Devegowda, HDK

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: JD(S) Bengaluru unit workers staged a protest near their party office over party patriarch HD Devegowda and the outfit’s state president HD Kumaraswamy being excluded from the list of invitees for the official Kempegowda Jayanthi government programme held at the premises of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru, hailed from the Vokkaliga caste. Devegowda is regarded as the most popular mass leader from the community who had gone on to land the Prime Minister’s post in 1996.

Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar also comes from the Vokkaliga community.

There is a tug of war between the two families for the hearts and minds of the landed caste, which is a politically dominant community. The Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha was also not happy about exclusion of Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda.