BENGALURU: JDS youth icon Nikhil Kumaraswamy’s slip of the tongue on Sunday, saying his party will “build” (nirmana in Kannada) instead of “demolish” (nirnama) has sent social media into a frenzy.
Nikhil has been appearing before the media more often after the tie-up, giving rise to speculation that he is either being groomed for a bigger position within the party or to contest elections. But party senior leader and Nikhil’s father HD Kumaraswamy said, “Nikhil is not interested in any electoral contest.’’
Nikhil, when he made the faux pas, was talking to the media after an important meeting of the leadership with party MLAs, MLCs, district presidents and other office-bearers at Kumaraswamy’s Bidadi farmhouse on Sunday.
Former MLC Ramesh Babu, who was with Janata Dal for nearly four decades before he joined Congress a couple of years ago, said, “Nikhil has lost an MP election in Mandya in 2019 and an Assembly election in Ramanagaram in 2023.
In 2004, HD Deve Gowda lost the parliamentary election to Congress, Kumaraswamy lost the 1999 election to Congress in Sathnur, and his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy lost the Lok Sabha by-election to Congress in 2014. Nikhil knows the strength of Congress and that’s the reason he said building instead of destroying Congress.”
On Nikhil’s slip of the tongue, Kumaraswamy said, “Nikhil is capable and has effective communication skills. The party will use his strengths.”
Political analyst BS Murthy said, “Nikhil has stepped out from the sidelines into the virtual JDS centre stage. He was in Delhi during the meeting of the party leadership with Amit Shah and he was at BJP senior leader BS Yediyurappa’s house recently. He was a prominent face at the party’s meeting in Bidadi. As Gowda’s and Kumaraswamy’s health has not been at the very best, one wonders if he is being groomed to take over an as important leader.”