Her brother Kumar Bangarappa, who has been denied the Congress ticket, has been piling pressure on the party to field him, though the official candidate has already submitted papers.
Deve Gowda, a five-time MP, is contesting from Hassan, a strong JDS bastion, which is dominated by Vokkaliga community to which he belongs.
He seems to be sitting pretty given his stature vis-a-vis his rivals of BJP and Congress.
Dharam Singh, a sitting MP, who had headed a Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka for almost 20 months before it collapsed in February 2006, appears to be having an edge over his rivals.
