Bangalore: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda, who has taken control of party affairs ahead of the parliamentary elections, has reportedly decided to focus on six constituencies where he feels the party has a better chance of winning.
The six constituencies include Hassan, from where Gowda is himself contesting, Mandya, which it lost during the by-elections, Tumkur, Shimoga, Mysore and Chickaballapur. The party is also hoping to win two more constituencies: Bangalore Rural, which it lost in a by-election and Kolar.
Its chances seem bright in Hassan as rival parties do not have candidates to match Gowda’s stature here. In Mandya, the situation has drastically changed since the by-election as the rebellion against JDS candidate, C.S. Puttaraju has largely subsided and sitting Congress MP, Ramya is facing resistance from local leaders belonging to the Ambarish faction.
In Mysore, Gowda is hoping to field Pramoda Devi, widow of the late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the last scion of the Mysore royal family. The JDS claims it had approached Wadiyar when he was alive to contest on its ticket from here and he had agreed to do so.
Shimoga could be a dark horse for the JD(S) as it has three sitting MLAs in the district, including Madhu Bangarappa. It is reportedly hoping that either his mother, Shakunthala Bangarappa or Geetha Shivarajkumar will contest the parliamentary election from here to give the BJP a tough race to the finish.
State JDS president, A Krishnappa has offered to contest from Tumkur, where the JD(S) has always lost with a narrow margin. Besides Vokkaligas and Lingayats, the constituency has a substantial number of backward class votes, including a large chunk of of Golla votes—the community that Krishnappa belongs to.
