Leader of opposition and former Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday announced that he will contest elections from Kolar district in Bengaluru.
He made the announcement while addressing a rally in the district.
“Today among the people of Kolar, I would like to announce that Kolar is going to be the place for my election battle,” he said.
He, however, announced that the decision will be subjected to the approval of high command.
The Congress party has not released its list of candidates yet.
Siddaramaiah had earlier ruled out any chance of contesting from Badami - the seat he won in the 2018 polls.
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Speaking to reporters earlier, Siddaramaiah had said, “Badami is too far from here and I have no intention of contesting from there once again. There are good leaders in Badami who can look after the people of Badami.”
According to Congress party analysis, Kolar has been chosen by Siddaramaiah because of mix of voters in the district.
{{/usCountry}}According to Congress party analysis, Kolar has been chosen by Siddaramaiah because of mix of voters in the district.
{{/usCountry}}Kolar is a safe bet for Siddaramaiah as it will consolidate AHINDA votes in his favour and Vokkaliga leaders of the party from the region also have pledged support to him.
AHINDA is a Kannada acronym that stands for ‘Alpasankhyataru’ (minorities), ‘Hindulidavaru’ (Backward Classes) and ‘Dalitaru’ (Dalits).
“In Kolar, the Muslim voters are a major deciding factor, along with a large number of backward class communities. These are two major factors,” said a party analyst, who didn’t want to be named.
According to the analyst, the constituency has over 25,000 registered voters from the Kuruba community to which Siddaramaiah belongs.
Srinivasa Gowda, Kolar’s sitting MLA from JD(S), who has switched sides to Congress, had earlier indicated that will not be contesting polls and wants Siddaramaiah to contest.
Siddaramaiah, who has announced that 2023 assembly polls will be his last, had made it clear that he won’t contest from Chamundeshwari.
As the then sitting chief minister, he lost the 2018 polls in Chamundeshwari to JD(S) candidate GT Deve Gowda by 36,042 votes.
Making his debut in the assembly in 1983, Siddaramaiah was elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal Party ticket.
He has won five times from this constituency and defeated thrice.
After neighbouring Varuna became a constituency in 2008 following delimitation, Siddaramaiah represented it till he vacated the seat for his son Dr Yathindra (now MLA) in the 2018 assembly polls and went back to his old constituency of Camundeshwari.
(With agency inputs)