Former PM Gowda wants CPI to give up Tumkur seat

Ravi S.Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 22

Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda has asked Communist Party of India (CPI) to not field a candidate from Tumkur Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka.

Janata Dal (Secular) veteran Gowda is believed to have called CPI head Sudhakar Reddy saying he wanted to contest from Tumkur this time instead of Hassan, usual his bastion. The call has put CPI, which has already announced its nomination from the seat, N. Sivan, in a fix. The problem is compounded by the fact that Sivan has already begun his campaign for the seat.

A top CPI leader said Gowda, who is a patron of JD(S), telephoned Reddy on Thursday night to inform about his plans to contest from Tumkur.

“It was an unexpected call made by Gowda, and the request was inexplicable. This has put the CPI in a tight spot on account of his national stature and his being leader of a major political party in the state,” a senior CPI leader said.

Reddy was non-committal, saying instead that he would need to consult the party’s state unit.

“If the state unit will decided to go along with its decision of contesting, its view will prevail,” Reddy was quoted to have told Gowda.

The request has left CPI confused, especially given that it decided to field a candidate at Tumkur only after JD(S) indicated that Gowda would contest from Hassan. CPI had previously been interested in Hassan constituency, but gave it up because it had traditionally been Gowda’s seat.

Another problem the party faces now is Gowda’s ambiguous stand or whether he would now give up Hassan if he contested from Tumkur.

 “Gowda has not elaborated on the issue on account of which the CPI finds hard to formulate its response,” the another CPI leader said.

CPI is the only Left party which has plans to contest from Karnataka. The other Left parties will be supporting CPI’s nominee.

In all there are 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. The Left parties will be supporting the JD(S)-Congress alliance in the remaining 27 seats.