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Journalism of Courage
There are signs of a bitter rivalry reviving in Karnataka’s Ramanagara constituency. State Congress president D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said there was a “proposal” to field his brother and current Bangalore Rural MP D K Suresh from the seat against Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy who is the son of JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
Shivakumar said he had yet to discuss the proposal with his brother or party workers in the region. “There is a small message that he should be fielded. I haven’t spoken about it with Suresh or our party workers. It will be a major decision. I am still thinking about it.”
Asked if the proposal had come from the Congress high command or the state unit, Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru, “I am the PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) president. There are some proposals, I am not denying it. Local workers and leaders have been urging me,” Shivakumar said, adding that he did not want to have a bye-election on his hands. If Suresh wins, a bypoll will be held for his parliamentary seat.
If Suresh contests from Ramanagara, the battle against Nikhil is likely to revive the feud between the two most prominent Vokkaliga political families of state politics. Ramanagara is represented at present by H D Kumaraswamy’s wife and Nikhil’s mother Anitha. The JD(S) leader has won from the constituency five times and considers Ramanagara his home turf. In the 2018 Assembly election, Kumaraswamy won both Ramanagara and Channapatna. He gave up the Ramanagara seat on Shivakumar’s advice as the Congress and the JD(S) formed the government. It was then viewed as a sign of a truce between Shivakumar and Kumaraswamy after a rivalry between the two families of more than three decades. Shivakumar who hails from the district also has a say in some constituencies of the region.
A 23-year-old Shivakumar had taken on Kumaraswamy’s father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in the 1985 Assembly polls from the erstwhile Sathanur constituency. This set in motion the rivalry that has lasted to date, barring the truce in 2018 when the two parties formed the government. Shivakumar who represented the constituency four times since 1989 had defeated Kumaraswamy in a high-profile contest in the 1999 Assembly polls.
The feud between the two families peaked in 2004 when Shivakumar helped then political novice and current BJP MLC Thejaswini Gowda defeat H D Deve Gowda in the Lok Sabha elections from Kanakapura in Bengaluru Rural. Gowda had contested from two seats, winning Hassan.
During the tenure of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, which lasted 14 months, there was a thaw in relations between Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar.
The talk of fielding Suresh is being viewed as a message to Congress workers that there is no understanding with the JD(S). As the two parties contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together, Congress workers, especially in the old-Mysore region, were left unhappy.
Another reason for the proposal is said to be the recent spat between Suresh and Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan who is trying to emerge as a Vokkaliga leader. A contest between Suresh and Nikhil will be a major blow to BJP prospects in Ramanagara district. Ashwath Narayan is the minister in charge of the district.
