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Journalism of Courage
In the Vokkaliga heartland of Hassan in the Old Mysuru region of south Karnataka, a high-profile “battle of grandchildren” is brewing as sitting JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna takes on the Congress’s Shreyas M Patel. While Prajwal is the grandson of former prime minister and JD((S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, Patel is likewise of Deve Gowda’s bete noire and former MP G Puttuswamy Gowda.
The high-pitched battle, due on April 26, will thus put the famous adage of the region – “Devegowdara gatthu Delhi gu gotthu (Even Delhi knows the power of Deve Gowda)” – to the test. The JD(S) is contesting just three Lok Sabha seats in alliance with the BJP.
However, this time the fact that the Deve Gowdas have continued with a family member in their Hassan citadel seems to be going against Prajwal. His rift with local workers of the BJP is another cause of concern for the sitting MP, as is the latent anger among a section of the Vokkaliga voters, the JD(S)’s traditional base.
Sensing the threat, Deve Gowda has stayed put in Hassan and addressed several rallies in the interior towns and villages of the constituency.
Spread over Hassan and parts of Chikmagalur districts, the seat has an electorate of 17.3 lakh, comprising around 5 lakh Vokkaligas, 2.5 lakh SC/ST community members, 2 lakh Lingayats, 1.5 lakh Kurubas and 1.3 lakh Muslim voters.
The political discourse in Hassan, which is marred by drought, bad roads and delayed projects, revolves more around the control of the Deve Gowda family over the region.
Javaregowda, a farmer from Dhoddahalli, says Prajwal was lucky to have won in 2019 and questions how long will the family rule the party. “There are thousands of party workers who have sacrificed for the JD(S)’ growth but all the fruits go to the family,” he says.
The Deve Gowda-Puttuswamy family rivalry started in the 1985 Assembly polls, where Puttuswamy contested as an Independent against then Janata Party leader Deve Gowda but lost. Four years later, he defeated Deve Gowda as a Congress candidate from the same seat but later failed to win the 1994 and 2004 Assembly polls against Deve Gowda’s son H D Revanna.
The political feud also spilled over to the Lok Sabha elections. Puttuswamy, contesting as a Congress candidate in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, defeated Deve Gowda by over 1 lakh votes.
Following Puttuswamy’s death in 2006, his family’s political journey took a hit and the rivalry seemed to have died down, till his daughter-in-law Anupama S G took over the reins and unsuccessfully contested the 2008 and 2013 Assembly elections against H D Revanna.
The first signs of a probable close Lok Sabha contest appeared in last year’s Assembly elections, where Shreyas Patel gave Revanna a run for his money in Holenarasipur, with the latter scraping through by 3,152 votes.
One theme of Deve Gowda’s campaign has been praising PM Narendra Modi, with the alliance with the BJP seen as a last gasp for survival of the JD(S) after its 2023 Assembly poll trouncing. Campaigning in Holenarasipur taluk, Deve Gowda said that only Modi can protect the interests of the state in the Cauvery water dispute with Tamil Nadu, and that no one else was eligible to lead the country. He repeated the same before a crowd in Nagarahalli Wednesday.
That the nonagenarian’s sway here cannot be completely ruled out is clear from the fact that even in the midst of its 2023 rout, the JD(S) won four of the eight Assembly segments — Shravanabelagola, Hassan, Holenarasipur and Arkalgud – falling under the Hassan Lok Sabha seat. The BJP (Belur and Sakleshpur) and the Congress (Kadur and Arsikere) won two each.
“The Deve Gowda family still has a loyal Vokkaliga vote base and with the BJP’s votes added to it, Prajwal can easily win,” says Dhananjay, a JD(S) worker.
Shreyas Patel enjoys some sympathy for having failed to crack the polls despite contesting three elections, but he seems to lack beyond the Holenarasipur and Hassan Assembly segments. The Congress hopes to also do well in Kadur, Arasikere, Arkalgud and Shravanabelagola and hopes minority votes from other regions too will consolidate in its favour.
Pitching for Patel, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Monday that he would make Arsikere MLA K M Shivalinge Gowda a minister in his Cabinet if he won. “You do not see any non-family candidates in the JD(S),” he added.
Meanwhile, the BJP-JD(S) alliance also has its cracks, with former BJP MLA Preetham Gowda, who has been a staunch critic of the Deve Gowda family, and was hoping to contest from the seat, conspicuous by his absence in campaigning. He has been tasked with working for the BJP’s candidate in Mysore, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.
