BENGALURU: The Janata Dal (Secular) is the first off the block, announcing a list of 126 candidates on Saturday for the upcoming Assembly polls It’s no surprise that party patriarch’s sons H D Revanna (who will be contesting from Holenarsipur) and H D Kumaraswamy (Ramanagara) figure in the list.
Another close family member who finds place on the list is former vice-chancellor of University of Mysore K S Rangappa, who will be contesting from Chamaraja constituency in Mysuru. The other big names include A H Vishwanath (Hunsur), G T Devegowda (Chamundeshwari), Chikkanna (H D Kote), H S Prakash (Hassan), Madhu Bangarappa (Sorab) and H Baligar (Shikaripur).
The party also announced its candidates for many constituencies in Bengaluru, but not for Chamarajpet represented by Zameer Ahmed who was ousted from the party. He later joined Congress. Parliament member C S Puttaraju will be contesting from Melukote constituency. Party sources said Kumaraswamy may also contest from another constituency. The choice of Rangappa over Harish Gowda has caused some consternation among party men, the sources added.
All well in JD(S) family?
While H D Kumaraswamy came to the venue in the party’s campaign bus amid much fanfare, party workers were disappointed for a while as they did not spot H D Revanna. The older brother, along with his wife Bhavani Revanna, came after the welcome speech and sat in the side rows. Mayawati, H D Deve Gowda and HDK hogged the limelight but neither Revanna nor his son Prajwal, Revanna is general secretary of the state JD(S), were acknowledged like Kumaraswamy by the crowd.