Karnataka CM's actor-son Nikhil hits the ground running in Mandya

Bengaluru: A day after it sealed a deal with the Congress on seats in Karnataka, the Janata Dal (S) on Thursday announced Nikhil Kumaraswamy as its nominee for the Mandya Lok Sabha seat. The party’s national president and the 31-year-old’s grandfather, HD Deve Gowda, made the announcement at a grand event in Mandya at 11.55 am — an auspicious moment as determined by astrologers — amid cheers from workers.

Nikhil, the only son of chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, and the family elders offered poojas at the Sharada temple in Sringeri before kicking off electioneering.

Nikhil’s latest movie, Seetharama Kalyana, released earlier this year is ought to complement his campaigning work. The movie is about how the hero pitches for an irrigation dam when executives at his dad’s business suggest other lucrative business options.

When Deve Gowda was the Karnataka CM in the 1994-96 period, an era do-minated by print media, his children kept a low profile. In fact, Kumaraswamy himself shot into limelight after his stunning coup in 2006 that saw him becoming the CM overnight. In the years that followed, his wife Anita Kumaraswamy entered public life by becoming an MLA.

A Bengaluru boy, the CM’s son is a graduate in business administration.

With two movies released so far and his whirlwind tours in the district, he is a well-known face in Mandya. “I have quite a few ideas, but two priorities — one: setting up smart schools for children in both Mandya and Ramanagara districts with 100% funding from the state government, on a pilot basis. Two: I am pained to see Mandya youth earning a low income in Bengaluru running taxis and rickshaws. I want to create job opportunities for them in Mandya itself,” Nikhil told ET.