MYSURU: At a time when disgruntled JDS members from the Chamundeshwari constituency have joined Congress to challenge sitting MLA GT Devegowda in the coming Assembly election, he organised a massive rally on Sunday to silence his critics.
Called the Yuva Nayakara Janmothsava, it resembled a youth festival as thousands of youngsters from the constituency, Yelwal, Gungral Chatra, Mavinhalli and other rural areas took out a bike rally. Youth leaders from the party Devegowda’s son Harish Gowda and Nikhil Kumaraswamy -- arrived in an open vehicle for the event on HD Kote Road on the outskirts of Mysuru.
Nikhil said he is ready to sacrifice his political career to make his father and senior party leader HD Kumaraswamy chief minister again. On differences between Devegowda and other JDS leaders in the past, Nikhil called the MLA the strength of the party and said it is common to have differences within a family. Devegowda and Harish are truly members of the extended family, he added.
He said JDS has a strong youth base in the Mysuru region with Harish, Prasanna son of Periyapatna MLA Mahadevu, T Narasipur MLA Ashwin Kumar and others working hard for the people over the last few years. “There is a strong wave for JDS in the coming election and we should look at other southern states where regional parties are ruling,” he added.