Revanna moved the special court for elected representatives for anticipatory bail, but withdrew the petition after the prosecution pointed out that the allegations of sexual harassment, stalking, insulting modesty of women and criminal intimidation made against him were bailable offences. He also did not appear in court on Friday, as he could have been arrested for not responding to SIT summons
Amid speculations of the merger of Janata Dal-Secular with BJP, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Saturday that if everything goes smoothly, there is no question of JDS being absorbed into the BJP and they will work together.
Mandya district, with seven assembly seats, was such a stronghold of the JDS that it won all the assembly seats in the 2018 assembly polls. But a series of electoral reverses for the regional party in its own pockets of Vokkaliga dominance is also one of the factors fuelling demands for the ex-CM to contest from here. The regional party has got into the election preparedness exercise after partys national president HD Deve Gowda, along with Kumaraswamy & others, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, cementing the bonhomie the two parties have established.
The JDS leaders will finalise a seat sharing deal with BJP national president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah in January for the Lok Sabha polls due in a few months. The two parties announced an electoral tie-up in September after the Congress gained an upperhand in the May assembly polls, causing a major dent into the vote banks of the BJP and JDS.