Hassan: President of Janata Dal (Secular) H.D. Deve Gowda who is testing his luck in a new seat-Tumakuru- after shifting from his home turf Hassan, filed his nomination at the Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner's office on Monday flanked by Congress leader and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar and former Congress minister T.B. Jayachandra.
Explaining the reasons for contesting from Tumakuru, Gowda told reporters that he had decided to take plunge based on an assurance given by Dr G. Parameshwar and the suggestion from his son, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Tumakuru is the hometown of Dr Parameshwar who is the MLA from Koratagere in the district.
Gowda stated that as per the seat sharing arrangement with the coalition partner, Congress, the JD(S) had asked for Mandya and Hassan besides other seats which were won by BJP candidates in 2014. The JD(S) demanded 10 seats of the 28 in the state but former CM Siddaramaiah opposed this and the JD(S) had to settle for 8 seats after the intervention of AICC president Rahul Gandhi.
Continuing in the same vein, Gowda said Siddaramaiah was adamant that a Congress nominee should contest from Mysuru, his native place which was why the JD(S) had to chose Tumakuru leaving Mysuru to the Congress nominee. Before making up his mind to contest from Tumakuru, Gowda said he had elicited the opinion of party workers including sitting MLAs and former legislators and Zilla Panchayat members.
In Tumakuru, Gowda was given a rousing welcome by his supporters who included both JD(S) and Congress workers and a rally was taken out before he filed his papers. Owing to time constraints, Gowda had to alight from the decorated open vehicle midway and board a car to reach the DC's office to file his papers by 2.15 pm as per the advice of his astrologers.
