Game of thrones as rookie Hassan Gowda takes on debutant Gowdthi

MANDYA: The political game for the Mandya Lok Sabha throne (seat) has the trappings of betrayal, questions on swabhimana (pride) and open defiance to leadership. The ramifications of the cauldron could well be felt state-wide after results are declared.
Voters of Mandya parliamentary constituency, 100km from Bengaluru, hit the headlines in these parliamentary polls for the ta gline “Mandya is India, India is Mandya”.The trigger for catapulting this otherwise nondescript constituency into national spotlight is former PM and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda’s family.

Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the third generation politician of the Gowda family and son of CM HD Kumaraswamy, is the JD(S)-Congress alliance candidate and he is pitted against Sumalatha, widow of actorpolitician MH Ambareesh. Both candidates are political debutants. Sumalatha, 55, contesting as an independent after being denied the Congress ticket, has raised the stakes. The BJP is supporting her.
The contest has turned into a battle between Kumaraswamy and three JD(S) ministers —CS Puttaraju, DC Thamanna and SR Mahesh — on one side and Sumalatha’s rainbow support cast on the other. A section of Congress and JD(S) leaders besides the BJP, Swaraj Abhiyan (Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha) and actors Darshan and Yash are backing her.
Mandya is perhaps the only constituency where flags of bitter enemies — Congress, JD(S), BJP and Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha — are seen fluttering on a single platform — at Sumalatha’s campaigns. At Nikhil’s rallies only JD(S) flags are seen. Followers of Congress MLAs N Cheluvarayaswamy and PM Narendraswamy are supporting Sumalatha. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah has tried to rein in the rebels and get them to work for Nikhil, but has been unsuccessful. Asked about support from the Congress, Nikhil said: “It’s up to the Congress to support me. I am only bothered about my party workers.’’ It’s not just Congress workers who have stayed away. A large section of JD(S) workers, who are fans of Ambareesh, are working for Sumalatha. Darshan Puttanaiah, who unsuccessfully contested the Melukote seat in the 2018 assembly polls as a Swaraj Abhiyan candidate — he had the backing of AICC chief Rahul Gandhi — is leading farmers’ support for Sumalatha.
Kumaraswamy kicked off the debate on swabhimana or Mandya’s asmitha (prestige) by introducing Nikhil as the “son of Mandya”. Incumbent JD(S) MP LR Shivarame Gowda repeatedly claimed Sumalatha is not a Mandya ‘Gowdthi’ (local person).
Sumalatha responded saying “she is the rightful heir to represent Mandya as she is Malavalli Huchche Gowda’s daughter-inlaw, whose son Ambareesh was born in Doddarasinakere in Maddur and made his political career in Mandya”. Congress sources say the battle is between a Hassan and Mandya Gowda. The Gowda family has its roots in Hassan.
Nikhil will get a huge chunk of Vokkaliga votes, but these alone will not help him. He will be heavily dependent on Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and dalits) votes. The concern in the Gowda family is whether Kurubas (part of Ahinda), the community Siddaramaiah belongs to, will vote for a Vokkaliga candidate especially when the community defeated the former chief minister in Chamundeshwari in 2018. There is even hushed talk of a senior Congress party leader being behind Sumalatha’s candidature.
The contest is racing towards a nail-biting finish as Mandya voters this time seem determined to vote according to their conscience.