H.D. Kumaraswamy to Contest Mandya Lok Sabha Seat to Avenge Son's Defeat
BENGALURU: After his son Nikhil's defeat in the Mandya Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 election, State Janata Dal Secular (JDS) President and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy enters the fray to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha election from the Mandya seat as the Janata Dal Secular and Bharatiya Janata Party nominee. His decision to contest from Mandya is reportedly to avenge his son's previous defeat.
Kumaraswamy is set to file his papers on April 4 and is currently the MLA representing the Channapatna Assembly seat.
Previously, Kumaraswamy won Lok Sabha seats on a Janata Dal ticket in 1996 and 2009, both from the Bengaluru Rural constituency. He also contested the Chikkaballapura parliamentary seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but finished third.
In the 2019 election, JDS and Congress, in alliance, fielded Nikhil, Kumaraswamy's son, as their consensus nominee for the Mandya seat, where he was defeated by independent nominee Sumalatha Ambareesh. At the time, Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister of the JDS-Congress coalition government.
Former State President of JDS, C.M. Ibrahim, commented on Kumaraswamy's entry into the Mandya contest, stating that initially, the plan was to field Nikhil for the seat. However, due to the BJP's reluctance to support Nikhil's candidature, Kumaraswamy was compelled to contest from Mandya.
Kumaraswamy stated that he decided to enter the fray from Mandya following the announcement by his close confidante and former minister C.S. Puttaraju, who declared Kumaraswamy as the JDS-BJP consensus nominee for the Mandya seat a couple of days ago.
Addressing concerns about his contest, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed confidence in defeating Kumaraswamy in the election and criticized him for leaving the Channapatna Assembly seat, which he currently represents.