BENGALURU : Former Tumakuru MP SP Muddahanume Gowda, who had switched to the BJP ahead of the May 10 assembly polls, is likely to return to the Congress before the parliamentary elections. With the BJP-JDS alliance deciding to field a Veerashaiva Lingayat from the BJP from Tumakuru, Gowda made a quick move and called on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah a couple of days ago. He also met DCM DK Shivakumar, Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara and Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna.
Parameshwara confirmed that Muddahanume Gowda had met him and clarified that he has no objection if the latter joins the party unconditionally. “We will take a decision by consensus as it was brought to the notice of KPCC president DK Shivakumar, who said district leaders should take a decision. There are certain criteria in the party for issuing election tickets,” he said. But state’s special representative in New Delhi TB Jayachandra, who is lobbying for a ticket for his son TJ Sanjay, has been opposing Gowda’s return as the party candidate. He met Shivakumar on Thursday evening and held talks.
Interestingly, Gowda, who won Tumakuru despite the Narendra Modi wave in the 2014 polls, lost the Congress party’s renomination in the 2019 polls, as former prime minister HD Deve Gowda was the Congress-JDS candidate. He switched to the BJP, expecting to get the ticket from Kunigal assembly constituency, but could not make the cut. Now, having got the hint that he is unlikely to get the BJP-JDS ticket, Gowda is readying to return home to the Congress.
In fact, the Congress was considering fielding Veerashaiva Lingayat leader V Somanna if he had quit the BJP, but Deve Gowda convinced Somanna to stay on. Somanna has now emerged as a strong contender for the Tumakuru LS seat, with the backing of the JDS, while former CM BS Yediyurappa and BJP state president and son BY Vijayendra are backing former minister JC Madhuswamy.