Bengaluru: Higher Education G.T. Deve Gowda's revelation on the non-functional pre-poll alliance between Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) may have kicked up a row between the coalition partners but it is a truth known to leaders of both parties.
What Mr Gowda revealed about Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha seat, would apply to Mandya, Tumakuru and Hassan parliamentary constituencies too where a majority of Congress leaders stayed neutral to convey the message that they were not happy with the tie-up with JD(S) with which they had fought all these years.
A former MLA from Tumakuru told Deccan Chronicle that Mr Deve Gowda had hinted at the pre-poll alliance not working in Mysuru-Kodagu LS seat, a day after a 'forced marriage' between the Congress and JD(S) in Mysuru. Mr Gowda had admitted on that day that leaders may have united but not party workers at the grassroot level and this was going to affect the prospects of coalition candidates in many constituencies.
The joint campaign did not have much of an impact in Mandya, Tumakuru or Hassan given that party workers of both parties were not ready to work together.
In Mandya, it was a known fact that barring former minister, Mr M.S. Atmananda, none of the other Congress leaders worked for the JD(S) candidate, Mr Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. In Hassan, a number of ex-Congress legislators preferred to work for former minister and BJP candidate, Mr A Manju as they did not want the third generation of the Deve Gowda family to take control of the district.
Similarly in Tumakuru, sitting MP, Muddahanumegowda and ex-MLA of Madhugiri, K.N. Rajanna did not actively campaigned for the JD(S) candidate and former PM, Mr H D Deve Gowda, treating him as an 'outsider'.
In fact, the pre-poll alliance between the Congress and JD(S) may indirectly benefit the BJP as dissatisfied workers of both parties indirectly worked for the lotus party, said sources.
