Two time MLA from Congress LR Shivarame Gowda is likely to contest the bye-polls for JD(S) from Mandya. Former legislator Madhu Bangarappa is also likely to contest from Shivamogga constituency.
Shivarame Gowda has been nominated amid speculations that JD(S) would field a candidate from party supremo HD Deve Gowda’s family. Former bureaucrat Lakshmi Ashwin Gowda was also in the fray to contest from Mandya, according to reports in The Hindu.
Shivarame, who runs educations institutions in Bengaluru, had also joined BJP and unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Lok Sabha polls when he was defeated by my former minister Cheluvarayaswamy, who was with JD(S) then.
While Shivarame got his ticket from Mandya constituency, another former Congress legislator, Suresh Babu, who along with Shivarame had been promised a ticket by JD(S) in April 2017, got his ticket from the Nagamangala constituency. Both the legislators hail from Nagamangala in Mandya district.
According to reports, Lakshmi Ashwin Gowda, on hearing the news on Sunday, met Deve Gowda at his residence in Padmanabhanagar, where she had to be consoled. Speaking to The Hindu, Lakshmi said that she could not comprehend the development and required some time to come out of this shock. She also said that she has not planned on her future course of action.
There is a likelihood that Madhu Bangarappa would be the coalition candidate for Congress and JD(S) from Shivamogga. According to reports, sources in the Congress had confirmed that the party let JD(S) contest from Shivamogga constituency. Madhu Bangarappa was touring abroad during these developments and reportedly returned to Bengaluru on Sunday night.