Bengaluru: Party supremo, H D Deve Gowda shifting his base to Hassan was the first surprise. Then came former Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy's emotional outburst in a letter. Both events have left leaders and workers of the Janata Dal (S), a party already at the crossroads, confused and looking forward desperately to the outcome of the party meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Mr Gowda's decision to move to Hassan and Mr Kumaraswamy's letter have also set off speculation that all is not well in the first family of the party. It is no secret that there has been a power struggle in the Gowda family. Although Mr H D Revanna has been in active politics for longer than Mr Kumaraswamy, the latter pipped him to the Chief Minister’s gaddi. Also, while Mr Revanna's wife, Bhavani was not allowed to enter electoral politics, Mrs Anitha Kumaraswamy has been given multiple opportunities to contest elections. And now it is the turn of the sons, Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna to battle for the next generation of leadership in the party.
According to sources Mr Gowda decided to shift his base to Hassan as he was tired of balancing the multiple political aspirants within the family. While this set of alarm bells in the party, the tone of the lengthy letter written by Mr Kumaraswamy in which he has offered to rectify mistakes , if any, on his part and accept a parallel leadership if required, raised many eyebrows. Unsure of what it all means workers are hoping Wednesday’s meeting will provide some clarity. Meanwhile, reports of a few prominent leaders quitting the party have also disheartened many. The fact that two prominent leaders, MLA Cheluvarayaswamy and former MLC M C Nanaiah denied quitting the party to the media did not go down well with the Gowda family as only its members were accustomed to making such clarifications in the past.
