Without our family, JD(S) won’t survive: H D  Kumaraswamy

BAILHONGAL, BELAGAVI: With little over a month left for elections, JD(S) State president H D  Kumaraswamy is slogging to ensure the victory of his party. After having campaigned continuously for a  week, Kumaraswamy feels that  the common man is returning to the JD(S) fold.  Kumaraswamy in an interaction with The New Indian Express, sounded confident about the party’s prospects.

How has been the response to ‘Kumara Parva Yatra’ in the State?
When compared  to the last two elections – 2008 and 2013 – response has  been very good this year. Even during late hours of the day, I am drawing a  crowd of 15-20,000 people. Such support is seen everywhere, in more than 95-100  constituencies I have campaigned in. In one or two constituencies there has been poor response,  that is in northern part of Karnataka and Haveri.

One  of the allegations against you has been about dynasty politics. After two chief ministers of Karnataka from your family, the third  generation is now in politics.

Without our family,  this party will not survive. This is the main problem. We are ready to  handover the charge to others in the party. But, nobody is ready to accept  that responsibility or leadership. It is also a fact that because of our family, one section  of the society supports us.

Some accuse JD(S) of being a dynastic party. But, in this election, even BJP and Congress leaders are hoping to launch their family members.

Everybody  nowadays wants their family members to enter politics. This is going on in the entire state and country. I am really disappointed and surprised  that only some people are pointing fingers at us. I can quote several  families, where father and son or father and grandson havebeen chief  ministers of a State.

Victory in  Chamundeshwari and Varuna constituencies holds symbolic value. How do you see JD(S) fare in these constituencies?
In  Chamundeshwari, there is no doubt G T Devegowda is going to sail through comfortably and easily against Siddaramaiah. There is no problem at all  as people are backing the JD(S) candidate. They are with our candidate and our family members. So, Siddaramaiah will be defeated in the  constituency.
In Varuna (where sons of sitting CM and former CM are contesting) we  have named the candidate among the 126 in the first  list. We have nominated an engineering graduate Abhishek who has worked in  Australia.

He is interested in standing against Siddaramaiah and his son in that  constituency.
We have already asked him to work towards winning people’s support. He  is visiting villages and campaigning for the elections.

Candidature  of your nephew Prajwal  Revanna has been an issue recently. Party workers had even demonstrated  in front of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, demanding that he be fielded  from  Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

Some party workers tried to convince father to give the ticket to Prajwal by stopping his car. Around 100-150 workers tried  to persuade father. But, my father and I had decided that only two members from our family will contest elections. We are still maintaining the stand.

We don’t  want to give added fodder to other parties’ rumourmongering, who will  accuse us of introducing some more family members to contest the  elections. I don’t want that blame.

Why did you decide to contest from two constituencies?
For the last one year, we have been consistently requesting our party workers to select a local candidate for Channapatna constituency. But, they are not  ready to do so. They are insisting that my wife Anitha contest from there.  

During Lok Sabha polls, though she did not win, she got more than  73,000 votes. In several Lok Sabha constituencies, several MLAs get through with 20 or 24,000 votes.
Therefore, party workers  of that area were insistent that Deve Gowda and I nominate her from  the  constituency. Since we had already announced that only two members of  our  family will contest elections, and there was also a clamour from party workers, I decided to contest from both the constituencies.

Since you are fighting the polls with an alliance, there were reports of
you aligning with Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
That is not true. We  have not spoken with AIMIM or SDPI  (Social Democratic Party of India) regarding any alliance. Only with BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party)  do we have an  understanding and have already allotted more than 20 seats to BSP. Jointly,  BSP and our party are fighting against both BJP and the Congress in this  election.

Apart from it, Mayawati will also campaign before the elections in the State. She will attend three to four public  meetings to campaign for our party.

Your health has been a factor which has affected your campaign plans. Have you been able to campaign as much as you would have liked?
I  don’t think my health has been a major hurdle. Despite my health  problems, I am travelling more  than leaders of other parties. I have been travelling for seven days straight now, despite the hot weather, and addressing three to four  rallies. I have not kept away saying that I am not feeling well.
Despite problems with  my stamina, I am travelling and working very hard to win the confidence of the people and ensure our candidate’s victory.

What is the strategy in Bengaluru, as JD(S) has been weak in the capital?
In  Bengaluru, of the 28 constituencies, we are going to give a tough fight in a minimum of 20 seats. What will help us is that after BJP announced its first  list, several people are unhappy. In several constituencies, rebel candidates have started expressing their dissatisfaction. Several people are now approaching us and I am working  out strategies. We are hoping to win a minimum of 12-13 seats in Bengaluru.

There were reports of actors Sudeep and Pawan Kalyan campaigning for JD(S). Will your actor son Nikhil Gowda also campaign?
Sudeep  will not enter politics directly, according to the information I have.  He may support some candidates in some constituencies.

Pawan  Kalyan, who has met me once, was interested in campaigning for  JD(S). Talks are on regarding the same with the actor. In three to four days, Pawan will also accept  our request to campaign in some parts.

My son Nikhil  will campaign in some places to assist me. Since we have very less time,  he may campaign in some constituencies in both South and North  Karnataka.

How will separate religious tag affect the poll outcome?
People  are not happy with the present government with respect to  Veerashaiva-Lingayat issue. Siddaramaiah and Congress think that by  recommending this to the Central Government, they may get votes of one section of Lingayat community. But, according to me, the community is not happy with it and also with Siddaramaiah’s  performance. People are not happy  about this divisive attitude of the government.