BENGALURU: With Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy continuing their slugfest over Hassan JDS MP Prajwal Revanna’s alleged sex scandal, leaders cutting across party-lines, close to both of them, feel it is unwarranted, even as it is imperative for the guilty to be punished.
The issue escalated into a spat between Vokkaliga leaders within the JDS and Congress, with equal number of them siding strongly with either Kumaraswamy or Shivakumar on the issue. However, certain non-Vokkaliga leaders, including ministers within the Congress government and some BJP leaders from the Old Mysuru region, have been cautious in this regard.
Former minister V Somanna, speaking his mind, on Thursday suggested that Shivakumar should refrain from attacking former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and his family. “Don’t rush to become the chief minister. If you take decisions in a hurry, there are chances it will backfire,’’ the senior Veerashaiva Lingayat leader warned.
“Shivakumar has attained all the posts, and is just one step away from the top post. I was the one who wished that he become CM when the Congress came to power in the state, since both of us hail from the same taluk,” he observed. Somanna, however, clarified that if the charges against Prajwal are proven, he should be given the harshest punishment. It may be noted here that Somanna has been on good terms with Shivakumar all along.
The JDS’ rank and file held protests across the Old Mysuru region, targeting Shivakumar. “If Shivakumar continues to drag the Gowda family into the Prajwal row, the JDS would use it as an opportunity to reorganise itself. The outcome of the Lok Sabha polls will also have a bearing on the regional party’s future prospects,” observed a political analyst. The poll results will be out on June 4.
JDS core committee chairman GT Deve Gowda, who held a meeting on Thursday, said the party will launch its membership drive soon to strengthen the organisation ahead of the ZP/TP polls expected to be held in July.
The JDS party is still a force in Mandya, Kolar, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, and Hassan, with no dearth of candidates to contest the polls for the rural local bodies, said TR Nagaraju, a former mayor of Tumakuru.