Siddaramaiah had recently clarified that he would contest the upcoming elections from one seat. (file)
Belagavi:
Senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa on Monday claimed that Congress leader Siddaramaiah is staging a drama by allegedly saying that he will not contest the assembly polls from Kolar region as announced and may instead go back to his home district Mysuru.
Ending speculation, Siddaramaiah had earlier this month announced that he would contest from Kolar if the party high command agreed.
Yediyurappa said, “Today itself I will say one thing, don’t think that I am predicting, Siddaramaiah will not contest from Kolar for any reason, he is doing drama and trying to go back to Mysuru.”
Talking to reporters in Belagavi, the former chief minister said the Congress Legislature Party leader knew that if he contested from Kolar, he would face defeat and go home.
“He is playing political circus and drama, according to me, he will not contest from there (Kolar) and may try to go back to Mysuru, if that happens then we will make the strategy that we need,” he said.
Asked about speculation that Siddaramaiah may contest from two seats, Mr Yediyurappa, who is a member of the BJP’s top parliamentary board, said, “I don’t know about it, it is left to his party.” Is. Let them contest elections. Two or three seats, but going home is certain.”
Amid speculations of contesting from two seats like in the 2018 assembly polls, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently made it clear that he would contest the upcoming elections from a single constituency.
Siddaramaiah, not wanting to contest from his current constituency, Badami, in the Bagalkot district of the North Karnataka region, was looking for a “safe seat”, and on 9 January announced his intention to contest from Kolar, if party allows.
In the 2018 elections, he contested from two seats – Chamundeshwari and Badami.
As the then Chief Minister, he lost the election in Chamundeshwari (in Mysore) to GT Deve Gowda of the JD(S) by 36,042 votes. However, he won the other constituency, Badami, from where he defeated B Sriramulu (BJP) by 1,696 votes.
Making his debut in the Legislative Assembly in 1983, Siddaramaiah was elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal party ticket. He has won from this seat five times and has tasted defeat thrice.
After it became a constituency of neighboring Varuna in 2008 following delimitation, Siddaramaiah represented it until vacating the seat for his son Dr. Yatindra (MLA) in the 2018 elections and moved back to his old constituency of Chamundeshwari.
Siddaramaiah has made it clear several times that he will no longer contest from Chamundeshwari, and if Mr Yediyurappa’s claims are to be believed, he may seek Varun, in which case his son Yathindra will be left without a seat .
It is no secret that Siddaramaiah, who was chief minister between 2013-2018, is harboring his ambition for a second term if the party wins the next assembly elections.
With state Congress president DK Shivakumar also having similar aspirations, this has triggered a one-sided game between the two leaders.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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