MANDYA: The Mandya Lok Sabha constituency is all set for an interesting election battle with JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy on Friday hinting that the party could field his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as the JDS-BJP alliance candidate.
Even as Kumaraswamy was attending the pre-poll meeting, party workers started shouting, demanding that Nikhil be fielded from Mandya. Replying, the former chief minister said he will not disappoint them.
“All party leaders will sit together and finalise a candidate. I have undergone three major heart surgeries in the past. Now again, I will undergo another surgery on March 21. I will leave for the hospital on March 19 and return on March 23. On March 25, we will announce the candidate, who will be selected as per your wish,” he said.
Trying to avoid a confrontation with Mandya sitting MP Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is firm in her decision to recontest from the seat, he said, “Sumalatha is like my elder sister. There were political differences in the past, but let bygones be bygones. There will be no disagreements in the future. Former minister MH Ambareesh and I were close friends.”
Party MLA GT Devegowda said it was Kumaraswamy who defeated Nikhil in the previous Mandya Lok Sabha polls. “When Ambareesh died, his family members told the government not to take the body to Mandya district. But Kumaraswamy insisted, as people of the district wanted to pay tributes to the actor-politician. It was Kumaraswamy who gave sadgati (moksha) to Ambareesh,” he said.
Realising that the comment could damage the party prospects, leaders on the stage requested him not to speak on the issue. He immediately changed the issue to attack the Congress government on its programmes.