The rift within former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s family over the Hassan ticket for the 10 May Assembly polls widened on Tuesday, with JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy invoking the battle of Kurukshetra in the epic Mahabharata to allege that some “Shakunis” were trying to brainwash his brother HD Revanna.
Speaking to reporters, he said even his father and JD(S) patriarch, H.D. Deve Gowda, was unable to convince his elder brother, Revanna, a former minister, and called it “bad fortune”. The Hassan seat has become a major bone of contention, as Revanna’s wife Bhavani Revanna, who has thrown her hat in the ring, has not relented despite her brother-in-law Kumaras- wamy repeatedly making it
HD Kumaraswamy clear that she would not be fielded and instead a “loyal party worker” would be made to contest. Bhavani Revanna is a former Hassan zilla panchayat member. She has the backing of her husband as well as their sons, Prajwal, who is a member of the Lok Sabha from Hassan, and Suraj Revanna, an MLC.
Kumaraswamy reiterated that his clear stand was that a party worker should be given a ticket in Hassan and that there was no question of any compromise on this. “I had said one and a half years ago itself that to defeat the BJP candidate in Hassan, a member of our family need not become a candidate. The party has the courage to fight the election by fielding an ordinary party worker from Hassan.” Kumaraswamy said, “There are Shakunis in Hassan the character in the epic Mahabharata-to ruin the family… Shakunis disturb the mind. Why did the Kurukshetra war happen? It was because of Shakuni’s conduct. This is the history of this soil, and such things have happened all along in this country.” The Shakunis were not in the family but were from other parties, and they came in the form of those who claimed to be “fans and wellwishers”, he clarified, and said, “The Shakunis from morning till evening have brainwashed Revanna and her family; I know what is going on.” In a message directed at his brother and family, the JD(S) legislature party leader said, “If you try to nurture those pretending to be well-wishers of the Deve Gowda family but in reality have an intention to finish it off, what can I do?” Responding to a question about Deve Gowda trying to convince Revanna, he said, “He tried, but Deve Gowda too doesn’t have the strength to convince Revanna today. It is our bad fortune; what to do?” With signs of a rift in the family owing to the Hassan ticket issue, Gowda, who has not been actively involved in political activities for some time now due to age-related ailments, recently held discussions with his two sons and Bhavani together, which however failed to break the deadlock.
