Lok Sabha Elections: Nikhil is Mandya candidate

MANDYA: Braving opposition from voters in

Mandya

Lok Sabha segment, the JD(S) first family, led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, anointed actor

Nikhil Kumaraswamy

as the Mandya candidate. However, the formal announcement came from transport minister DC Thammanna, a member of the first family by marriage, as the auspicious time was supposed to be prior to noon. Since Gowda was delayed, he sent word to Thammanna to make the announcement.


Gowda said he approved Nikhil’s candidature to protect the party and argued that he isn’t promoting family members. He referred to Kumaraswamy’s health (CM had undergone open heart surgery) thrice to assert that the party is in desperate need of youngsters who can lead from the front.

“After Kumaraswamy underwent heart surgery, I was concerned,” the JD(S) supremo said. “Looking at his father’s plight, Nikhil told me he will fight to protect the interests of the party. It was at that moment that I decided to allow him to join politics.”

The aim, an emotional Gowda told party workers, is to protect the party and not to promote family members. He said he was still deliberating on the timing of 29-year-old actor’s entry into politics when he was provoked by the opposition. Without taking actor Sumalatha’s name, he said her tour in Mandya segment pushed him to make the call. “The ‘GobackNikhil’ campaign hurt me,” he said. “It made me determined to field him from Mandya.”

Nikhil’s anointing comes barely 24 hours after Gowda vacated his Hassan Parliament seat for another grandson, Prajwal Revanna. Though it was a JD(S) party meet, Congress flags were prominently displayed at the venue alongside posters of AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, former CM Siddaramaiah and DyCM G Parameshwara.

Kumaraswamy, who was in a combative mood, took on opponents who are questioning his family’s links to Mandya to push Nikhil into electoral politics.

“Yes I was born in Hassan while my political ‘karmabhoomi’ is Ramanagara,” he said. “But it was victory of five MLAs from Mandya district in 2005 which allowed me to become the CM. I’m indebted to people of Mandya,” he said, adding when his son wanted to take care of some of the pockets in the state ahead of assembly polls in 2018, he’d sent him to Mandya. “Did I intend to field him from Mandya Lok Sabha then? No.”

Nikhil was particular to connect with the people. Clad in a white shirt and dhoti and wearing sandals, he said: “I was doing OK in films. But I decided to join politics to serve the people. I’ll serve as your slave till my last breath. Give me a chance.”