Ahead of Congress list, uncertainty looms over Siddaramaiah seat | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Ahead of Congress list, uncertainty looms over Siddaramaiah seat

By, Bengaluru
Mar 22, 2023 12:59 AM IST

On Tuesday morning, Siddaramaiah’s supporters staged a protest outside his residence in Bengaluru requesting him to contest the upcoming assembly election in the state from the Kolar Assembly constituency.

The suspense over the opposition leader Siddaramaiah’s seat may remain unresolved as the Congress is getting ready to release the first list of candidates without a decision on the former chief minister’s seat. Even though Siddaramaiah has claimed that the decision on the seat will be made by the party’s high command, leaders in Congress say that Siddaramaiah is yet to take a decision on the matter.

Even though Siddaramaiah had announced he would contest from Kolar district, following the Congress election committee meeting it has been proposed that he should contest from Varunaru in Mysuru. (PTI)
Even though Siddaramaiah had announced he would contest from Kolar district, following the Congress election committee meeting it has been proposed that he should contest from Varunaru in Mysuru. (PTI)

Even though Siddaramaiah had announced he would contest from Kolar district, following the Congress election committee meeting it has been proposed that he should contest from Varunaru in Mysuru.

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“As far as my candidature is concerned, I have left it to the high command. Whatever decision is taken by the high command, I will go by it,” said Siddaramaiah while addressing the media in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

When asked if the ambiguity over his candidature is a sign that he will contest from Varuna, Siddaramaiah said that nothing can be dismissed in politics. “You can’t dismiss something in politics. Anything could happen,” he said.

On Tuesday morning Siddaramaiah’s supporters staged a protest outside his residence in Bengaluru requesting him to contest the upcoming assembly election in the state from the Kolar Assembly constituency.

“Where I have said that I will not contest from Kolar or any other constituency. I have left it to the party’s high command and whatever they decide, I will abide by it. People are joining our party because BJP will lose,” Siddaramaiah said about the protests.

Siddaramaiah also said that the Congress party will be releasing a list of seats where the candidates have no competition within the party and it includes the name of his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah for Varuna seat. “Yathindra’s name has been cleared because it was a single name. But I have written to the high command saying that decision on Varuna has been left to the high command,” he said.

When asked if there is a possibility of the high command would remove his son’s name to accommodate him in the Varuna constituency, he said: “I can’t comment on possibilities,” he said.

On January 9, Siddaramaiah on Monday announced that he would contest elections from Kolar district, located 65 km from Bengaluru. He made the announcement while addressing the rally in the district. Following this, he made multiple visits to the district repeating his assurance.

However, on Friday when during the high command meeting, Sunil Kanugolu, who heads a poll consultancy firm made a presentation stating that Kolar would be tough for Siddaramaiah. According to the survey, though Siddaramiah was popular in Kolar urban, JD(S) and BJP were stronger in rural pockets. The report also said that the SC/ST voters in the district believe that Siddaramaiah played a role in ensuring the defeat of G Parameshwar in the 2013 Assembly polls and Congress veteran KH Muniyappa’s loss in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

A Narayana, a Bengaluru-based political analyst said that the Congress party wants Siddaramaiah to contest from the safe seat so he can has enough time to campaign across the state. “Compared to Varuna, Chamundeshwari (where he lost the 2018 election) was the difficult seat. The campaign there and in Badami had limited time to travel the state,” said Narayana.

In Mysuru, a local Congress leader said that Siddaramaiah winning again from Mysuru is important for his chances to become the chief minister again. “Even though there were rumours that he would go to Kolar, we were certain he would contest from Varuna because he is from here and he has to contest from here. Compared to the last election, he is stronger and whatever concerns voters had against him have moved,” said the leader who didn’t want to be named.

Meanwhile, mocking leader of opposition Siddaramaiah’s quest for a constituency, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said that such a situation should not have surfaced for a former CM who completed a full five-year term; was the deputy CM on two occasions, and presented 13 budgets.

“I sympathise with him (Siddaramaiah) for the efforts he has been putting in since the last one year towards finding a constituency. He is not confident of victory. This shows his lack of confidence,” the JD(S) leader said.

“A seasoned leader like Siddaramaiah, representing a national party, is finding it so hard to find a constituency. The unease that he is facing today in finding a safe seat is created by himself, and not by others. What could be the plight of other candidates when a leader like Siddaramaiah, who claims to have introduced several ‘Bhagya’ schemes like ‘Anna Bhagya’, is facing such a predicament?,” he added.

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