K'taka poll: JD-S faces 'Bhavani challenge' for Hassan seat

Amid the family feud over Hassan assembly seat in poll-bound Karnataka, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday said he will not entertain any 'rebellion.'

He also said the second list of candidates will be released on Monday including for the Hassan seat.

The Hassan seat has become a big headache for Janata Dal-Secular, which is witnessing a rebellion within the first family of the party.

The party which was among the first to release its list of candidates has not been able to finalise a name for Hassan constituency yet.

The reason being that the former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's daughter-in-law and H D Revanna's wife Bhavani Revanna is adamant about contesting the election from Hassan, which is a JD-S stronghold.

It is now learnt that the Bhavani has warned that she would contest the election as an independent candidate if she is denied a ticket. Her two sons – Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna and MLC Suraj Revanna too have backed their mother.

"I will not entertain any rebellion. I have already said this several times that we will respond to the sentiments of the party workers. Even if there is pressure it will not work because the final decision will be left to the wishes of the workers," Kumaraswamy told reporters.

According to sources in the JD(S), Kumaraswamy is keen on fielding H S Prakash's son H P Swaroop.

H S Prakash was a four-time MLA from this constituency who lost the 2018 Assembly election to BJP's Preetham Gowda. Six months after losing the Assembly election, Prakash passed away.

The JD-S second-in-command wanted to field Swaroop keeping in view the large support base and sympathy he enjoys among voters, the sources said.

They added that 89-year old Deve Gowda, who is not keeping well, called the leaders from Hassan to discuss the issue at his Bengaluru residence.

With the Hassan conundrum growing to enormous proportions, senior party leaders reached Bengaluru on Saturday to find a way out.

"Some of our leaders have arrived here with regard to Hassan constituency and they too made an appeal. The matter now is that Deve Gowda is not in good health and he is not able to discuss it," former JD(S) state president H K Kumaraswamy told reporters in Hassan.

He was confident the situation will change “because there is still a lot of time to file nominations."

"The decision has been left to the ‘supremo' (Deve Gowda). An appropriate decision will be arrived at," Kumaraswamy said.

To a question whether the list that is likely to be released on Monday will have Bhavani Revanna's name, the six-time Sakaleshpur MLA said the matter is still at the discussion level.

"We had a discussion with H D Kumaraswamy. He is going to make an announcement in two days. It (announcement) can be delayed further. We cannot predict. The final decision will be taken by the 'supremo', Kumaraswamy and Revanna," H K Kumaraswamy said.

He also said there will be just one decision, which everyone should abide by.