History repeats as battle moves from grandpas to grandsons in karnataka's hassan

But a senior BJP leader, who wished not to be named, said the BJP-JDS alliance will be an advantage for Prajwal as a large chunk of saffron votes will shift to him and he could also gain

from the Modi wave. “He could retain the seat if workers from both parties work diligently for him,” he added. However, none of Prajwal’s public meetings till now have been attended by BJP

leaders or workers. It has left voters wondering whether the alliance is working only at the top level and not percolated down to the grassroots. In fact, Deve Gowda, JDS state president HD

Kumaraswamy and top party leader and Prajwal’s father HD Revanna have made repeated attempts to meet former BJP MLA Preetam  J Gowda  and his followers to seek their support, but in vain. A

veteran politician said Shreyas Patel’s nomination by Congress was unexpected and the young leader has acceptability among his party workers and different sections of society too.

Veerashaiva Lingayats and Dasa Vokkaligas (a sub-caste in Vokkaliga), to which Shrayas belongs, are the deciding factor in the constituency and Congress leaders hope that the two major

communities would vote for their candidate. Shreyas losing the 2023 Holenarasipur Assembly election to JDS candidate HD Revanna by a narrow margin too could work in his favour. There could

be a sympathy factor for him, feel Congress leaders. He could get votes from communities not in favour of JDS and also of the entire block of Christian and Kuruba votes. Dasa Vokkaligas,

said to be traditional rivals of Deve Gowda -- who belongs to Mullu Vokkaliga, too could lean towards Shrayas. There seems to be dissatisfaction among people over incomplete works in the

district, especially flyovers in Hassan city. They are also unhappy with leaders trying to take political mileage out of development works. Deve Gowda won from the Hassan parliamentary

constituency five times, including a hat-trick of wins in 2004, 2009 and 2014. The constituency has Hassan, Arasikere, Arakalgud, Belur, Holenarasipur, Kadur, Sakleshpur and Shravanabelagola

Assembly segments from Hassan district, and Karur from Chikkamagaluru district.