Disgruntled JD(S) MLA GT Devegowda was accorded a warm welcome in Mysuru on Sunday
The event is widely seen as Devegowda’s measured but firm response to rivals within JD(S), particularly Kumaraswamy, who recently declared that he would be the party’s face for the 2028 assembly elections and reportedly asked party workers not to mention Devegowda’s name before him.
The MLA said voters would not leave him alone and that he would continue serving them “till his last breath”, even if he had to do so independently. He further declared that in the Chamundeshwari constituency, people wanted him irrespective of party affiliation. The rally comes days after he met chief minister DK Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah , a long-time associate, fuelling speculation that his exit from JD(S) may be imminent.
Addressing the gathering, Devegowda said he had faced humiliation within the party for the past three years. The massive turnout, he said, was the people’s response to that treatment. He alleged that despite being a JD(S) MLA, he was excluded from party programmes and conventions.
Mysuru : Weeks after Union minister HD Kumaraswamy hinted that JD(S) would not renominate disgruntled MLA GT Devegowda from the Chamundeshwari constituency, the senior leader mounted a major show of strength in Mysuru on Sunday, throwing down the gauntlet to the party leadership.
The rally came a day after Devegowda was elected unopposed as president of the Karnataka State Cooperative Federation. On his arrival, thousands of supporters, particularly from the Chamundeshwari segment, accorded him a grand welcome. Women carried ceremonial pots, fireworks lit up the route, and a crane was used to place a massive garland around him as a procession moved from the north gate of Mysuru Palace to JK Grounds.