Karnataka polls: Revanna, Bhavani may fight as independents?
HASSAN: The new crisis over the JDS ticket in Hassan doesn’t seem to be abating anytime soon. Former minister HD Revanna seems to have played his final card in favour of his wife, Bhavani, to mount pressure on the party leaders to get her the Hassan ticket. It is, however, to be seen how JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda handles the situation since his son, Revanna, and his daughter-in-law have allegedly threatened to fight the assembly elections independently. The couple might have brandished the final weapon of fighting in Hassan and Holenarasipur constituencies, respectively, as independent candidates, should the party fail to give Bhavani a ticket. However, Revanna is not silent, despite his brother HD Kumaraswamy often saying that the Hassan ticket will be given to a party worker.
Revanna held a series of meetings with party workers of different capacities to gather inputs and seek suggestions for the future course of action. Revanna chaired an important meeting of senior party workers on Friday in Hassan to seek suggestions if the party did not announce a ticket for Bhavani. Most senior leaders have also reportedly suggested that Revanna and Bhavani fight the elections as independents.
Revanna also stuck to his stand on the lines of Kumaraswamy over the ticket issue. However, he and his wife are in a dilemma to take a decision yet in this regard. Sources close to Revanna said the couple will wait for Kumaraswamy’s decision. Revanna’s family is reportedly upset with Kumaraswamy’s statement, that except Revanna, no other family member can fight the polls from Hassan this time around.
Meanwhile, the repeated statements of Kumaraswamy also allegedly frustrated the couple, forcing them to take drastic steps. On condition of anonymity, a close associate of Bhavani informed that she had challenged family members that she would never withdraw from her decision to contest the election under any circumstances, and would even fight the elections independently, if the party denied her a ticket.
Brushing aside reports of independent candidatures, a senior leader said Revanna or Bhavani would never take any harsh decision with the party expecting to win more seats. Revanna refused to comment on the issue, while Bhavani was not available for comment.