Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) kingpin HD Deve Gowda has declared his return to electoral politics. The former Prime Minister, who had said that he won't contest any more elections, made the announcement on Monday.
Even though HDD has not yet declared his constituency, chances are that he might be contesting from Bengaluru North in Karnataka, which is currently held by Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP DV Sadananda Gowda.
Top JD(S) leaders and party workers from four constituencies have demanded that he should contest from Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Bengaluru North or Mysore-Kodagu.
At the Congress screening committee meeting chaired by the party's general secretary in-charge in Karnataka, KC Venugopal, in the national capital on Monday, several Congress members had opposed the idea to bequeath Tumakuru, Kolar and Chikkaballpur constituencies.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah had also asked the high command from giving the Mysore seat to the JD(S), stating that the party has higher chances of winning from the constituency.
The JD(S) leaders also feel that the former PM has a greater chance of winning from Bengaluru North due to the presence of a large Vokkaliga voter base in the constituency.
The meeting was attended by JD(S) state president H Vishwanath, MP Kupendra Reddy, MLAs K Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout) and R Manjunatha (Dasarahalli), JD(S) Bengaluru city president Prakash, Deputy Mayor Bhadre Gowda, party general secretary Zafrullah Khan and corporators, reported Deccan Herald.
There were rumours that DV Sadananda Gowda might contest from another constituency fearing HDD's entry into Bengaluru North, to which the BJP MP responded saying that he is not afraid and will not migrate. He said that if HDD contests from Bengaluru North, it will make the election even more challenging.
