Deve Gowda’s grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy rules out contesting Lok Sabha polls, says he won’t make ‘U-turn’

Nikhil is the son of JD(S) leader and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and the grandson of JD(S) supremo and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. In his first election, he was defeated in Mandya by independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He contested the Assembly polls from Ramanagar in May 2023 but lost to Iqbal Hussain of the Congress.

Soon after his son’s second electoral defeat, Kumaraswamy said that he had advised Nikhil to stay away from politics for at least five years to concentrate on his film career. However, since the BJP-JD(S) alliance came into being, he has accompanied Kumaraswamy to his meetings with the BJP high command.

“JD(S) leaders and party workers invite me to campaign for the party in Mandya. Due to this, I had travelled around the constituency to strengthen the BJP-JD(S) coalition. My attention will be on all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state,” he said.

The Mandya constituency, which is part of the Vokkaliga belt of the Old Mysore region, is a stronghold of the JD(S) despite the party suffering electoral upsets in recent years. The JD(S) is likely to contest Mandya, one of the three or four Lok Sabha seats that the BJP will cede to its coalition partner.

The name of Kumaraswamy has also done the rounds as a potential candidate for the constituency.