JDS future looks bleak as Gowda launches another Nikhil dud

Former prime minister, 92-year-old HD Deve Gowda’s possibly last-ditch attempt to launch his favourite grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy’s political career from Channapatna Assembly constituency ended in a fiasco, casting grave concerns about the future of the regional party launched by him – the Janata Dal (Secular).
For the 36-year-old actor-politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, it was the third setback in a row in five years, having lost the Lok Sabha election from Mandya in 2019 and the Ramanagara Assembly seat in 2023. He was defeated by veteran CP Yogeshwar of the Congress by a margin of over 25,000 votes. Yogeshwar, a BJP MLC, had changed sides in a dramatic turn of events in the eleventh hour after being denied ticket to contest from Channapatna.
Relief for Siddaramaiah
In fact, at a time when Congress performed poorly in elections elsewhere, the ruling party in Karnataka won all three by-elections, including Sandur and Shiggaon in the northern region. It came as a relief to the embattled chief minister Siddaramaiah, who was faced with multiple scandals including the MUDA land allotment scam against his wife.
Siddaramaiah described the Congress candidates’ victories as the “people’s response to the machinations of the BJP and JD(S) to politically finish him with false allegations and tarnish his image.” But, it can only be a temporary relief for Siddaramaiah as he and his family members have been subjected to the Lokayukta summons in the MUDA case and the Rs189 crore alleged misappropriation case involving the Valmiki ST Corporation is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
More than Siddaramaiah, the credit for Channapatna victory is being given to DK Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh as they were instrumental in ‘luring’ Yogeshwar from the BJP and settling scores with Kumaraswamy for his decisive role in ensuring an impressive performance by the BJP-JD(S) alliance in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The JD(S) had not only got Kumaraswamy elected to the Lok Sabha from Mandya, but Kumaraswamy’s brother-in-law Dr CN Manjunath to defeat DK Suresh, both by margins of over two lakh votes.
Sulking BJP leaders
After winning from Mandya, Kumaraswamy saw his political fortunes going up as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted him into the Union cabinet, giving him the important portfolios of Large Industries and Steel. The state BJP leaders weren’t too happy with Kumaraswamy getting more importance than themselves, but there was little they could do about it.
However, when the Channapatna Assembly by-election loomed – a seat vacated by Kumaraswamy – the BJP leaders strongly backed Yogeshwar’s claim and lobbied on his behalf with the central leaders. But, when the decision on the candidate selection was left to the Gowda family, they plumped for a reluctant Nikhil Kumaraswamy to contest, with what turned out to be of disastrous consequences.
Despite his age-related difficulties, Deve Gowda himself campaigned for seven days and addressed over 25 meetings pleading with the people to “hold Nikhil’s hand”, but the appeal was ignored. With the political careers of his two other grandsons, Prajwal Revanna and Suraj Revanna, in complete disarray, with both spending time in jail over the alleged sex scandals, Gowda perhaps was banking on Nikhil Kumaraswamy to keep the JD(S) afloat but his effort seems to have misfired.
In the Shiggaon Assembly seat, the BJP fielded another dynast in former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s son, Bharat Bommai, for the seat vacated by Bommai himself after getting elected to the Lok Sabha, but tasted defeat by Congress’s Yasir Pathan by a margin of over 13,000 votes. It was a seat which the BJP had not lost since 1994.
The Sandur seat was claimed by Congress’s Annapurna Tukaram defeating Bangaru Hanumanthu of the BJP by over 9,000 votes. This was again a seat vacated by Tukuram on his election to the Lok Sabha from Ballari constituency.
Bane of factionalism
In spite of several opportunities to reinvigorate the party, the Karnataka BJP’s weaknesses are coming to the fore. The central BJP leadership will perhaps launch serious inquiries into the repeated failure of its state-level leaders to encash on the Siddaramaiah government’s alleged corruption and mis-governance issues, as factionalism has become a bane in the party.
Soon after the results of three by-elections were announced, a section of the BJP led by a chronic dissident, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, was putting the entire blame on the state president, BY Vijayendra, son of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa. Senior leaders like Yatnal and Ramesh Jarkiholi have continued to swipe at Vijayendra’s nomination as president a year ago and have held parallel protest meetings against the Congress government.
As Karnataka is an important bastion for the BJP in the entire south, it is more than likely that after the by-election debacles, the BJP central leadership will conduct a ‘surgery’ to its state unit in order to try and put the house in order.