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‘Let their God take care…Will show my power’: BJP leader Gowda after poll defeat
Preetham Gowda, 41, lost the Hassan assembly segment to Swaroop Prakash of the JD(S) who secured 50% of the votes cast in the town named after goddess Hassan-amma
BENGALURU: A controversy has erupted in Karnataka’s Hassan district after a video emerged in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Preetham J Gowda allegedly threatens “one community”, which he believes, did not support him in the just-concluded assembly elections but the Janata Dal (Secular), or JDS.
Preetham Gowda, 41, lost the Hassan assembly segment to Swaroop Prakash of the JD(S) who secured 50% of the popular vote in Hassan town named after goddess Hassan-amma or Hasanamba, the presiding deity of the local Hasanamba temple situated in the old town area.
Gowda, who had breached the JD (S) citadel in the Vokkaliga dominated district in 2018 and hoped to repeat his performance, secured 45%.
In the widely-circulated video, Preetham J Gowda appears to attack “one community”; he didn’t take names.
“I have worked for five years while others were sleeping. But people from that one community have shown us. In the coming days, we’ll show what we are...I honestly tried to take all communities along with love and faith. In the coming days, let their God take care of them. I will show them what my power is,” Gowda is heard saying.
HT cannot verify the authenticity of the video and has reached out to Gowda for his comments. On social media, his remarks were largely interpreted to be aimed at the Muslim community. This story will be updated once he responds.
Hassan is the home district of HD Deve Gowda. HP Swaroop, who won the election, is a former zilla panchayat vice president and son of former MLA late HS Prakash, a four-time MLA who lost the 2018 election. HS Prakash died a few months later the same year.
Preetham Gowda found himself in the middle of a political row in December last year as well when he was allegedly heard threatening his constituents from the Muslim community to vote for him else he won’t work for them. Gowda allegedly complained that the community had ditched him though he had treated them with love and affection.
