HDK’s wife Anitha to contest Ramanagara bypoll on JD(S) ticket

Bengaluru: Ending uncertainty, the JD(S) on Sunday announced fielding Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha Kumaraswamy in the bypoll to the Ramanagara Assembly constituency.

The ruling party in the state also said Madhu Bangarappa, son of former chief minister S Bangarappa, would be the candidate from the Shivamogga parliamentary seat. 

Earlier, there was speculation that Anitha would contest either from Ramanagara or Mandya. The Janata Dal (Secular) has still not finalised the candidate for the Mandya Lok Sabha bypoll. 

The party has said the candidature will be announced later. The coalition partner of the JD(S), Congress, has announced that Anand Nyamgouda, son of Sidhu Nyamagouda who was killed in a road accident on May 28, will be its candidate from the Jamakhandi Assembly seat. 

The party is yet to decide its candidate for the Ballari Lok Sabha seat. 

The bypolls to three Lok Sabha seats -- Shivamogga, Mandya and Ballari -- and the two assembly seats of Ramanagara and Jamakhandi will take place on November 3. 

JD(S) national secretary general Danish Ali told PTI that the names of Anitha Kumaraswamy and Bangarappa were finalised for the Ramanagar and Shivamogga seats respectively. 

However, the candidate for Mandya would be finalised later, he said. Ali also said the JD(S) would support the Congress candidates from Ballari and Jamakhandi. 

Confirming this, JD(S) state general secretary M Srikanth said Bangarappa would be the alliance candidate from Shivamogga. 

Bangarappa would meet JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda Monday, before leaving for Shivamogga to file his nomination papers, he added. 

Congress spokesperson A N Nataraj Gowda also confirmed that Bangarappa would contest from Shivamogga. 

The Congress, in a press release, said it had appointed polls in-charge for the seats from where JD(S) candidates would fight the by-elections. 
Large and Medium Industries Minister K J George would oversee the Mandya parliamentary seat, while Revenue Minister R V Deshpande and Lok Sabha member D K Suresh would be in charge of Shivamogga and Ramanagara respectively, it said. 

The bypolls were necessitated following the resignations of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president BS Yeddyurappa from the Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat, C S Puttaraju from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat and B Sriramulu from the Ballari Lok Sabha seat. 

They contested the 2018 state Assembly polls and got elected. The Ramanagara seat got vacated as Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, who won from both the Channapatna and Ramanagara seats, opted to retain the former in the Assembly and resigned from the latter. 

The Jamakhandi Assembly seat fell vacant after the sitting MLA, Siddu Nyamagouda, was killed in a road accident on May 28.