BENGALURU: JDS Youth Wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who recently lost the Channapatna Assembly bypoll, is likely to lead the regional party in future elections in Karnataka starting from the elections to zilla and taluk panchayat likely to be held in 2025.
Apart from last month’s bypoll, Nikhil, son of Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, lost his two previous electoral battles too—the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Mandya as a JDS-Congress alliance candidate and the 2023 Assembly polls from Ramanagara, a seat that his mother, Anitha Kumaraswamy, had sacrificed for him. Nikhil’s third straight defeat came in Channapatna, a seat vacated by his father Kumaraswamy after the latter was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mandya this year.
At present, Kumaraswamy is the state JDS president.
Now with Kumaraswamy a Union Minister, the baton is likely to be passed on to Nikhil, informed sources told The New Sunday Express.
A win in Channapatna would have given a much-needed boost to Nikhil. But undeterred by the back-to-back defeats, the young JDS leader is now moving on to organise the party, said JDS insiders.
Nikhil recently met several BJP central leaders, including organising secretary BL Santhosh and the party’s state in-charge, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, in New Delhi. On Monday, Nikhil is scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, JDS sources told TNSE.
“During my visit to Delhi, I had the privilege of meeting Santhoshji and receiving his blessings. He discussed key aspects of the Channapatna by-election, sought information, and provided me with significant guidance on my political journey as well as strengthening the NDA alliance in Karnataka,” Nikhil had told the media after his meeting with Santhosh in Delhi.
“I am only saying this, Nikhil will take over the responsibility of the party in the future. Becoming an MLA is not the only thing to achieve. He is young and has the responsibility of organising the party in the state, the experience to his back, and also a family background; we will give him more responsibility,” Deve Gowda told a private TV channel in New Delhi on Saturday.