Deve Gowda to start campaigning for JD(S), asserts party will not align with Congress or BJP

JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Monday asserted that there is no question of his party going near either the Congress or BJP, and announced that he will be touring various parts of the state for campaigning ahead of the Assembly polls in Karnataka.

The former prime minister said he will tour extensively in the party stronghold of Old Mysuru region and a couple of districts in northern parts of the state for campaigning.

"I will tour the state after April 10th, preferably all of the Old Mysuru region -- Mandya, Hassan, Kolar, Chikkamagaluru, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagara and Tumkur. I'm going to tour this region. This is our strong belt," Gowda said in a video statement released by his office.

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"I also want to go to Raichur and Vijayapura districts (north Karnataka), where I have done a lot of work to save farmers, who were suffering badly because of drought. By getting water from Krishna (river), amidst water sharing dispute with Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, I had worked there," he said.

Stating that his son and party leader H D Kumaraswamy will tour the rest of the state including these regions, the veteran leader said "There is no question of going either near to Congress or near to BJP."

The 89-year-old leader had stayed away from active campaigning, other than appearances at a couple of rallies, like the one in Mysuru recently, due to age-related ill health. Speaking about Hassan seat, Gowda said: "Hassan is my Parliamentary segment. Of course, I have left it to my grandson (MP Prajwal Revanna). Even then, I have taken care of all these areas personally along with Old Mysuru, Raichur and Vijayapura, among others."

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Differences seem to have cropped up within the Gowda family regarding the Hassan Assembly seat, which has become a bone of contention, as Bhavani Revanna, who has thrown her hat in the ring, has not relented, despite her brother-in-law Kumaraswamy repeatedly making it clear that she will not be fielded, and instead a "loyal party worker" will enter the fray.

Bhavani Revanna, a former Hassan zilla panchayat member, is the wife of Kumaraswamy's elder brother and former minister H D Revanna and daughter-in-law of Gowda. She has the backing of her husband and sons -- Prajwal and Suraj Revanna -- who are Member of Lok Sabha from Hassan and an MLC respectively. JD(S), which has set a target of winning at least 123 seats in the 224-member Assembly, has announced the first list of 93 candidates so far.

Voting will take place in a single phase across the state on May 10 and the results declared on May 13.