Some Congressman averse to Siddu’s campaign in Hassan

Hassan: A joint campaign by president of JD(S) H.D. Deve Gowda, former CM Siddaramaiah and Congress leader C.M. Ibrahim has been organised on April 11 in Hassan in favour of JD(S) candidate Prajwal Revanna. But a section of Congress workers are averse to Siddaramaiah campaigning in Hassan fearing that his presence would send across a wrong message to party workers.  Confirming the tour programme of Siddaramaiah, Hassan District Congress president Javagal Manjunath said  Deve Gowda, Siddaramaiah and Ibrahim will on April 11 visit Kadur, Arasikere and Arakalgud taluks.

Siddaramaiah was earlier head of the state unit JD(S) before he parted ways with Deve Gowda and later shifted his loyalty to the Congress party in 2006 to become  CM after the 2013 Assembly elections. Ever since the Congress gave up Hassan to the JD(S),  a section of Congress workers are at loggerheads with their bosses saying that they will not work for Prajwal’s victory and will prefer to work for BJP candidate and former Congressman A. Manju. One of those who has asked Siddaramaiah not to campaign in Hassan is Bagur Manje Gowda who was defeated in Holenarsipura by JD(S) candidate H.D. Revanna in the 2018 assembly polls before the JD(S) and Congress struck a pact. He held a meeting of party workers of Holenarsipura assembly seat on Monday wherein he appealed to Siddaramaiah not to campaign for Prajwal since the former chief minister had refrained from campaigning for Congress nominees in the 2018 assembly polls in Hassan.

“When Siddaramaiah did not come here for campaigning during the assembly polls, his campaign for the coalition candidate will definitely send a wrong message,” Manje Gowda told Deccan Chronicle after the meeting.

For  Congress nominees in Hassan, the 2018 assembly polls proved disastrous as all seven nominees lost and the JD(S) romped home with six seats and the BJP with one.  Siddaramaiah’s  campaign for Congress nominees would have made a difference but he preferred not to campaign, said sources.