Devegowda on strong wicket in Hassan

HASSAN(KARNATAKA): In the hotbed of Hassan Vokkaliga politics, H D Devegowda's family holds sway.

And this time, the former prime minister's re-election bid appears all the more easy because of the Congress' resolve to ensure that BJP does not win.

Gowda's son H D Revanna goes about the constituency mustering support for his father and his task has made easy by the Congress whose senior leaders in Karnataka have made it abundantly clear that their main opponent is the BJP.

However, Hassan's Congress veteran H C Srikantaiah has left the party recently to join BJP, but he went without his supporters.

Local Congressmen, on the other hand, complain about lack of a dynamic leadership raising persistent doubts in some quarters as to whether their party would adopt a "soft approach" towards Devegowda, a Vokkaliga strongman, and fight shy of going the whole hog against him.

JDS has a strong-base in Hassan, which comprises the assembly segments of Kadur, Shravanabelagola, Arasikere, Belur, Hassan, Holenarasipura, Arakalgud and Sakleshpur. The party won five seats in the Assembly elections last year and the Congress three, while BJP drew a blank.

The dominant Vokkaliga community - to which all the three key candidates belong -- constitutes 5-5.5 lakh of the 14 lakh electorate and thus holds the key.