Gowda scions pitted against each other in Hassan

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, April 15

The Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka is witnessing a high-octane campaign by JD(S) and the Congress. JD(S) Prajwal Revanna and Congress’s Shreyas Patel, the grandsons of two fierce political opponents former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and former Karnataka minister late G Puttaswamy Gowda, have taken the rivalry to the third generation.

Deve Gowda (91) is the senior-most star campaigner in the current Lok Sabha elections and is seen in the villages of Hassan holding multiple meetings to ensure his grandson Revanna is re-elected. Meanwhile, Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar has given directions to the Congress workers to ensure the victory of Patel (32).

Puttaswamy Gowda has contested against Deve Gowda in multiple elections.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Revanna was the candidate of the JD(S)-Congress coalition. This time JD(S) aligned with the BJP. He is banking on Lingayat votes, the community which dominates Hassan and has been the traditional support base of the BJP.

The last time the Congress won the Hassan Lok Sabha seat was in 1999. In the 1999 parliamentary elections, Puttaswamy Gowda defeated Deve Gowda. In the 2004 general elections, Deve Gowda defeated Puttaswamy Gowda. In 2006, Puttaswamy Gowda died of multiple organ failure. In 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls Deve Gowda again won the constituency.

In the 2008 and 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections, Puttaswamy Gowda’s daughter-in-law Anupama contested against Deve Gowda’s son HD Revanna, on a Congress ticket in Holenarasipura.

However, insiders in BJP and JD(S) are sceptical of Revanna’s victory this time. A senior BJP leader from Karnataka told The Tribune that Revanna did not raise the man-animal conflict in Parliament — a major issue in Hassan.

The Congress is banking on the guarantee schemes that it launched after forming the government in Karnataka in 2023.