Ex-PM Deve Gowda is burning the trail in new seat Tumkur
It바카라s only 7 am, but guests have already begun trickling into the guest house in Tumkur, where H.D. Deve Gowda is up and bright, browsing newspapers and sipping coffee. At 85, the political veteran is foraying into new territory. This is the first time he is contesting from Tumkur, where his party last won a Lok Sabha election in 1996, the year he became Prime Minister. Over the past few weeks, he has also been busy crisscrossing southern Karnataka, which goes to polls on April 18.
바카라There is malicious propaganda against me, but it won바카라t carry any weight as people are not going to take it seriously,바카라 Gowda tells Outlook. He is referring to the BJP playing the dynasty politics card바카라Gowda바카라s grandsons, Prajwal Revanna and Nikhil Kumaraswamy, are contesting from the neighbouring seats, Hassan and Mandya respectively. 바카라There used to be an HMT watch factory in Tumkur. It shut down, didn바카라t it?바카라 remarks a BJP campaigner during a roadshow in Gubbi. 바카라Now, people will shut down another HMT바카라Hassan, Mandya and Tumkur.바카라 However, Gowda isn바카라t perturbed. He claims that he had decided not to contest these elections, but senior leaders persuaded him to.
Tumkur, many reckon, is a safe bet for Gowda even though his party hasn바카라t won the seat in years. The election math adds up바카라put together, the JD(S)-Congress vote share in Tumkur in 2014 was impressive. Gowda바카라s community, Vokkaliga, has a sizeable population here. Close behind are the Lingayats, who form the BJP바카라s support base. 바카라As far as Tumkur is concerned, we are quite safe,바카라 claims G. Parameshwara, the Karnataka deputy chief minister and Congress leader who hails from the city. He believes the votes of the significant 바카라others바카라바카라communities like the Dalits, OBCs and minorities바카라will be the deciding factor and give the coalition an edge.
The JD(S) is strong in Hassan and Mandya, but it still needs the Congress바카라s support. The rumbles of discontent within the Congress were aplenty earlier this month, when the party바카라s sitting MP had to give up his claim on the Tumkur seat so that Gowda could contest. 바카라Those hiccups are over,바카라 says Parameshwara. Over the last couple of weeks, Gowda has been holding joint rallies with Congress leader Siddaramaiah, his protege-turned-foe-turned-ally, to get their party workers to toe the line. 바카라Put your differences aside. We have to be sincere,바카라 he exhorts supporters at a rally in Mysore, Siddaramaiah바카라s hometown.
The BJP바카라s campaign is centred on PM Narendra Modi, but it also taps into local issues to pin the 바카라outsider바카라 tag onto Gowda. They accuse him of not doing enough to bring water from the Hemavathy river to Tumkur, even though it flows through his pocket borough, Hassan. But community and caste matter more here than such issues, claims a local journalist. G.S. Basavaraj, 77, the BJP바카라s candidate, has won the seat four times바카라thrice as a Congress member and in 2009, as a BJP nominee.
Gowda believes that regional parties will play a major role in these elections and had thus called for all secular parties to come together regardless of who becomes PM. 바카라Of course, I have to stand by Rahul Gandhi because we are running a coalition government here (in Karnataka),바카라 he elaborates.
Although Gowda says that the Congress-JD(S) coalition is eyeing 20 of the 28 LS seats in Karnataka, it hasn바카라t been an easy going. 바카라In the three constituencies where my grandsons and I are contesting, they are harassing us,바카라 Gowda remarks, referring to the raids by I-T authorities. In the last week of March, the department raided close associates of JD(S) leaders across the state. Again, on April 16, I-T personnel conducted searches in the premises of people with alleged links to the JD(S) in Mandya and Hassan districts.
In this charged environment, barbs are bound to fly. In Mysore, Gowda replies to a Modi jibe about his vow to take political sanyas in 2014. 바카라I was not born to be a sanyasi. I바카라m a farmer바카라s son,바카라 the stalwart thunders. He is, he emphatically reminds the crowd, a 24/7 politician. And that, at 85.
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By Ajay Sukumaran in Tumkur