Vokkaliga-dominated Hassan likely to be a tough battle ground

Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has won 5 times since 1991 in Hassan constituency, which is dominated by Vokkaligas. It has been a JD(S) stronghold for the last 3 decades, except when G Puttaswamy Gowda of Congress won in 1999.

In 2019, incumbent MP Prajwal Revanna won a landslide victory against BJP's A Manju as a JDS-Congress alliance candidate by 1.42 lakh votes. This time he is all set to contest as a JDS-BJP alliance candidate. As of now, the ticket is fixed for him. Deve Gowda himself announced Prajwal as the candidate for Hassan. He also clarified that he will not contest.

Former BJP MLA Preetam Gowda has raised some doubts about Prajwal's candidature. But it is apparent that BJP leaders have not taken this seriously. Because, apart from Preetam Gowda, there are no candidates capable of contesting this time, and there are not many aspirants. Preetam Gowda, who has been doing anti-JD(S) politics, is now the state BJP general secretary. Due to this position of responsibility, he lost the opportunity to directly oppose the JDS candidate. But after conducting a survey about the chances of winning, he rolled the dice to announce the alliance candidate. Even Preetam Gowda knows that it is a wasted effort. However, once given the opportunity, he is ready to contest as an alliance candidate. Preetam Gowda himself is trying to portray hotelier Kiran as a BJP ticket aspirant.

A T Ramaswamy joined the BJP after not getting a JDS ticket in the 2023 assembly elections. He had taken this step to contest the Lok Sabha from Hassan. But, due to the BJP-JDS alliance, his desire has come to an end. All set to quit BJP and join Congress. However, they are more likely to get a ticket. If Ramaswamy does not join the Congress, there is a high possibility of former Minister B Shivaram getting the ticket. He has started the election preparations with the belief that he will get approval at the KPCC level to contest the last election.

Also, a former member of the Legislative Council MA Gopalaswamy is also an aspirant. Jattenahalli Ramachandra of Channarayapatna, who is indirectly opposing Gopalaswamy, is also interested in giving a try. If Shivaram gets the ticket instead of Gopalaswamy, he is thinking of withdrawing from the contest.

It is no secret that many Congress workers are trying to field Shreyas Patel, the grandson of former minister Late G Puttaswamy Gowda, the young leader who lost to HD Revanna by a narrow margin in Holenarasipur. However, Shreyas does not seem to be very interested in contesting for the Lok Sabha. Besides, Baguru Manjegowda, who lost to Revanna in 2018, is also hoping for a Congress ticket.