Will Siddaramaiah succeed in two seats?

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has created a new record by becoming the first Congress leader in Karnataka to contest from two assembly constituencies.

Though, former chief minister late R Gundu Rao had planned to contest from two assembly seats- Somwarpet in Kodagu district and Chittapur in Gulbarga in the 1983 Assembly polls, he was directed by the Congress high command to contest from Somwarpet constituency and not from Chittapur seat. Unfortunately,  Mr Rao was humbled by Mr Jeevijaya of the erstwhile Janata Party by a big margin. That also ended the political career of Mr Rao,  whose son and KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundurao has been winning from Gandhi Nagar constituency in Bengaluru.

Other politicians who had contested from two assembly seats are former prime minister and JD(S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda and former chief minister S Bangarappa. In 1985, Mr Deve Gowda had contested from Holenarasipura assembly in Hassan district and Sathanur seat and had won from both places. In Holenarasipura, he won against his rival Mr Puttaswamygowda who contested as an independent candidate,  following denial of the Congress ticket, by a margin of over 2000 votes. In Sathanur,  Mr Gowda had trounced incumbent energy minister D.K. Shivakumar, who had made his political debut on the Congress ticket, by over 15000 votes. 

In 1989, Mr Gowda again contested from Holenarasipura and Kanakapura on Samajvadi Janata Party ticket and lost in both places. While Mr Puttaswamygowda of Congress defeated Mr Deve Gowda by over 10,000 votes, the former PM was relegated to third place in Kanakapura where Mr P.G.R. Sindhia of Janata Dal (United) romped home.

In 2008, Mr Bangarappa contested from both Shikaripur and Soraba assembly seats in Shivamogga district. While he triumphed from Soraba,  he lost miserably against Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa of BJP by a vast margin.

Analysing this, Mr Mahadeva Prakash, a political analyst, noted that the fear of losing from Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency in Mysuru has forced Mr Siddaramaiah to contest from Badami constituency. 

For public consumption,  Mr Siddaramaiah was saying that there was pressure from the people of north Karnataka to contest from their region,  but the reality was different.  Even Mr Gundu Rao too had sensed his defeat in Somwarpet seat and that had made him choose the Chittapur constituency.  The striking similarities between Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Rao are; both were ambitious in politics and they wanted to contest from two seats. For Mr Rao,  the defeat came at the hands of a  Vokkaliga and  Mr Siddaramaiah too is facing a tough challenge Mr G.T. Deve Gowda. a Vokkaliga.