Prajwal Revanna offers to quit for H D Deve Gowda

Hassan: Taking the high road, Mr Prajwal Revanna of the Janata Dal Secular (JDS), who won from Hassan in the Lok Sabha poll,  decided to resign on Friday and make way for his grandfather and party supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda, who narrowly lost from Tumakuru, to contest from the constituency.

Addressing a press conference here, he  said he had given the matter serious thought through the  night after the election results were announced on Thursday and arrived at his decision to resign.  He had informed his father and minister for public works, H.D. Revanna and his grandfather, Deve Gowda about it, he added.

Mr Deve Gowda represented  the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in 1991, 1998, 2004, 2009 and 2014 , but  he decided to give it up for his grandson ahead of the 2019 poll and opted to contest from Tumakuru himself. But he lost to Mr G.S. Basavaraju of the BJP by a narrow margin.

 Explaining  his decision, the newly elected MP pointed out that JD(S) workers did not celebrate his victory in Hassan as Mr Deve Gowda had lost in Tumakuru.  "The JD(S) will only celebrate if Mr Deve Gowda contests and wins from Hassan. My decision to quit as MP is not meant to disrespect voters of Hassan or anyone else, but to stand by Mr Deve Gowda in his struggle for the people," he said, adding, "I have so far never asked for anything, either personal or political, from him, but now a time has come for me to ask him to make up his mind to contest from Hassan. I am confident he will accept my offer."

Later, the young MP elect met Mr Deve Gowda at his Padmanabhanagar residence in Bengaluru and urged him to contest from Hassan after his resignation.

Prajwal had defeated A. Manju of the BJP in Hassan, considered a JD(S) bastion while another Gowda grandson Nikhil lost in Tumakuru.