Karnataka: Deve Gowda keen on dissolving assembly, seeking a fresh mandate?

Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's juggernaut crushed an ill-at-ease Congress-JD (S) coalition on its first anniversary in office, reducing their tally to an abysmal one seat each, and winning a record 25 Lok Sabha constituencies, on Thursday.

Ironically, the body blow was delivered an year to the day these two parties played host to leaders of 'Mahagathbandhan' of Opposition parties who resolved to oust the BJP in general elections in 2019. The upshot: many veterans returned with bitter memories of a defeat. They include veteran Congress leaders M Mallikarjun Kharge, former Union ministers M Veerappa Moily and K H Muniyappa and former prime minister and JD (S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda. It was also a day which Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy would like to forget in a jiffy as his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, backed by none less than his father, three ministers, seven MLAs and three MLCs, was trounced by independent Mrs Sumalatha Ambareesh by 1, 25, 876 votes in a fiercely contested battle for control of Vokkaliga province, Mandya.

While 87-year old Gowda was defeated by 13,339 votes in Tumakura against BJP's G S Basavaraj, Kharge suffered the first defeat in his political career at the hands of former party colleague Umesh Jadhav, who resigned as MLA and joined the saffron party ahead of the elections, by 95,452 votes.

As the Lok Sabha results was a double whammy for the Gowda clan, his another grandson Prajwal Revanna, son of minister H D Revanna was the only face saver, as he defeated A. Manju of the BJP by 1,41,324 votes in Hassan.
Gowda shifted to Tumakuru from his traditional bastion Hassan to make way for his grandson.

With top JD(S)-Congress coalition candidates decimated, JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda is considering dissolving the assembly and seeking a fresh mandate without giving the BJP an opportunity to topple the government. CM H.D. Kumaraswamy will take a call at a cabinet meeting Friday.