Hassan: JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda exuded confidence on Thursday that both his grandsons Prajwal Revanna in Hassan and Nikhil Kumaraswamy in Mandya would win this Lok Sabha poll, giving his optimistic verdict on emerging from voting at the Paduvalahippe polling station.
But former minister and BJP candidate for Hassan, A. Manju believes he is likely to win, even if by only a margin of 15,000 votes. He also doesn't rule out the possibility of smashing his opponent with a victory margin of a lakh.
Claiming his assessment is based on reports of voting percentages that he has received from the constituency, he says he is sure the voters of Kadur, Arakalagudu, Hassan, Sakleshpur and Belur have supported him. While he concedes there could be a close contest in Arasikere between the BJP and JDS), he shows no such humility where Channarayapatna and Holenarsipura are concerned.
“I have managed to snatch a considerable number of votes in the JD(S) strongholds of Channarayapatna and Holenarsipura. The JDS will not secure the votes it is expecting in these parts,” he asserts confidently.
As for the possibility of Vokkaliga votes being divided between him and Mr Prajwal Revanna, who also belongs to the community like him, Mr Manju points out that he has never depended on it in the past and has managed to secure more votes from Dalits and backward classes in elections.
With the counting of votes slated for May 23, it will be a few weeks more before the people get to know for certain which of the two men, Mr Deve Gowda or Mr Manju, is right in his calculations.
