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Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday, April 22, said it was a conscious decision to contest from Mandya to save the party from getting obliterated by the Congress.
“The question before me was the survival of JD(S) that was founded by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. It is the party of farmers. The Congress is conspiring to finish our party this election. Therefore, I decided to enter the poll fray to rescue the party. The party’s existence depends on the poll verdict,” he said, addressing the party workers and supporters at Nagamangala during his campaign.
In his speech at the election rally, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he had no choice but to say yes to the party leaders and workers who pressured him to contest the polls. “Like Mandya, there was pressure on me to contest the polls in Bangalore Rural, Tumakuru, and Chickaballapur. Finally, Mandya was chosen as we thought we could work for the victory of the NDA candidates in those segments.”
Not the first choice
Mr. Kumaraswamy said he was not the first choice of the party but his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as the people of Mandya backed his candidature to compensate for the loss he suffered in the last elections. They wanted to rectify the “injustice” done to him in the last poll, he claimed.
However, he was not ready to contest the polls as he felt that it was not appropriate to go before the people without being with them after the poll defeat. Moreover, after the loss in Mandya, Mr Nikhil shifted to Ramanagara and fought the polls there but was defeated again. Therefore, he said no to contest the LS polls and asked not to put pressure on him, the former CM explained.
Three aspirants from Mandya
Nikhil Kumaraswamy’s decision prompted us to look for candidates within Mandya among the former MLAs and shortlisted three candidates – Suresh Gowda of Nagamangala, D.C. Thammanna of Maddur, and C.S. Puttaraju of Melkote. “However, following political developments thereafter, and the alleged conspiracy by the Congress, a decision was taken to fight the polls on the insistence of the party workers though initially I was reluctant to be the party candidate,” he said.
Referring to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement to defeat Mr. Kumaraswamy, he said the Congress should be punished for the “troubles” the leaders gave him when he was the Chief Minister of the coalition government.
Lashing out at Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar for asking for his contribution to Mandya, he said the people of Mandya knew what he had done for the district. “I have not betrayed anybody in my political career.”
He accused the Congress government of playing with the sentiments of the people of Mandya by releasing Cauvery water.
“The Minister in Mandya tells the farmers not to cultivate paddy. It was perhaps for the first time that the Agriculture Minister was making such a statement. It appears to be his gift to the people of Mandya,” he said while coming down heavily on N. Cheluvarayaswamy, who happens to be the MLA of Nagamangala and also the Minister in-charge of Mandya district.
JD(S) leaders from the district and others were present.
