Hassan: In some consolation for the JD(S), Prajwal Revanna, grandson of party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has won his maiden electoral contest from Hassan by a margin of 1,42,123 lakh votes, defeating former minister A. Manju of the BJP.
While Mr Prajwal Revanna polled 6, 76, 606 votes, Mr Manju secured 5, 35, 282. Mr Prajwal is the younger son of minister H.D. Revanna. His mother Bhavani is a ZP member from Hale Kote. Mr Deve Gowda gave up his Hassan constituency for his grandson and moved to Tumakuru, where he was defeated by Mr G.S. Basavaraju of the BJP. Interestingly, Mr Prajwal has bettered his victory margin as Mr Deve Gowda had won from Hassan in 2014 against Mr Manju, then with the Congress, by a lakh votes. Speaking to reporters after his win, Mr Prajwal said he was elated at the result but had not expected his victory margin to be so huge. He attributed his win to the joint efforts of both the JD(S) and Congress and promised to address the grievances of the people on priority. For his part, Mr Manju, for whom the current defeat is his second after 2014, blamed it on the alliance between the JD(S) and Congress in Hassan. “"Backward class voters, who are traditionally with the Congress, backed JD(S) in the poll, helping it win,” he said.
