Karnataka: Lone JD(S) winner Prajwal Revanna offers to give up Hassan seat for Devegowda
Devegowda lost to BJP’s GS Basavaraj in Tumkur constituency.
Prajwal Revanna, the lone Janata Dal (Secular) MP-elect from Karnataka, on Friday offered to give up his seat for his grandfather and party supremo HD Devegowda, ANI reported.
Revanna won from party bastion Hassan by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Manju A with a margin of 1.41 lakh votes. Former Prime Minister Devegowda, who held the Hassan Lok Sabha seat for five terms, moved to Tumkur for the elections this year, but was defeated by BJP’s GS Basavaraj by a slim margin of 13,339 votes.
“To reinstate confidence of the JD(S) cadre, we have to fill the gap left by the defeat of HD Devegowda,” he said at a press conference on Friday. “Therefore, I’ve decided to tender my resignation. I want him [Devegowda] to be victorious once again from Hassan.”
Revanna said he wanted to see Devegowda win and represent Hassan in the Parliament, reported The New Indian Express. “I don’t intend to disrespect the people of Hassan. But Devegowda is the foundation of our party and we need to restore his place,” he said, according to Deccan Herald
Revanna is the only member of the Gowda family to win a Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka. Nikhil Kumaraswamy, another grandson of Devegowda, lost to independent candidate Sumalatha in Mandya by over one lakh votes.
The Janata Dal (Secular) and its ally, Congress, faced a major setback in the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, winning just one seat each. The Bharatiya Janata Party swept the state, winning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
The results are likely to have an adverse impact on the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in the state. The coalition has been in turmoil for several months. On May 10, state BJP President BS Yeddyurappa had claimed 20 Congress legislators were disgruntled with the coalition and may quit the party soon.
The BJP is the single largest party in the state Assembly, but did not have the majority to form the government after Assembly elections last year.