Karnataka bypolls: H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil to contest as NDA candidate from Channapatna

The 36-year-old is pitted against five time MLA from the segment and former Minister C P Yogeeshwara of the Congress, who joined the party after quitting BJP on Wednesday.

Bengaluru: The BJP-JD(S) combine announced Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as the candidate for the November 13 Channapatna bypoll, making it a litmus test for the Gowda family scion.

After a final round of meetings with party workers and leaders from Channapatna on Thursday, Kumaraswamy arrvied at BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa's residence where they discussed the decision. Finally, to demonstrate unity in the alliance, Yediyurappa, on behalf of the alliance partners, announced Nikhil as the NDA candidate.

Nikhil, who has lost two elections on the trot, will be up against Congress' C P Yogeshwar. JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda said he would camp at Channapatna to ensure his grandson's victory.

Even Yediyurappa expressed confidence in winning the seat.

"We will face this election under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I am 100% confident that Nikhil Kumaraswamy will win this election. We, leaders and workers of both the parties, are with him and he will win with a big margin. We will all tour together and campaign in his favour," he said.

Nikhil, who had played the role of Abhimanyu in the Kannada movie Kurukshetra, termed this as another 'Chakravyuha', but said he would enter with confidence and conquer it.

"Leaders from both the parties have finally decided to field me. I would like to thank NDA leaders for giving me this opportunity. It is not a question of my likes and dislikes, because even yesterday, I had expressed my opinion that a party worker must be fielded. But in the changed circumstances, the leaders have opted me," Nikhil said.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy said the decision to field his son was taken considering pressure from party workers. "Finally, after a series of meetings with party workers and leaders, we decided to field Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Channapatna. This decision was taken considering recent political developments and also because of pressure from party workers. Now, our fight is for the the NDA candidate's victory," Kumaraswamy said.

This is Nikhil's third attempt in electoral politics after losing the Mandya Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and again from Ramanagara Assembly in 2023. Yogeshwar has won five times from Channapatna in the past, but he lost the last two elections to Nikhil's father Kumaraswamy at Channapatna. 

It will be a straight fight between Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who has been visiting Channaptna frequently for the past few months and waiting to exact revenge against Kumaraswamy for the defeat of his brother D K Suresh in the Lok Sabha polls from Bengaluru Rural. Suresh lost to Dr C N Manjunath, who is Nikhil's uncle.