Siddaramaiah gives B Form to Vijayshankar

Mysuru: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who arrived in Mysuru on Sunday afternoon, handed over the B form of the Congress party to C.H. Vijayshankar for Mysuru- Kodagu constituency and  held a meeting with Congress workers at a private hotel here.

Asked if he would be present when Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy files his papers for the Mandya seat on Monday, Mr Siddaramaiah said, “I will be in Mysuru on Monday and leave for Chitradurga. It is difficult to participate in the nomination filing process everywhere.”

On the possibility of Congress president Rahul Gandhi contesting from Karnataka, he said, “Mr Gandhi has the option of contesting from Karnataka. But so far he has not given any indication in this regard.”

The former chief minister refused to comment on BJP support for Independent candidate Sumalatha in Mandya and said, “Our candidate is not contesting in Mandya. We have given up that constituency to JD(S). So I won’t comment on that. Only a few Congress leaders in Mandya have been suspended for working for Sumalatha and that will not affect the party,” he said.

When asked on Mr H.D. Deve Gowda planning to contest from two constituencies, he said, “I do not know anything about it.”

On Tumakuru Congress MP Muddahanumegowda planning to contest from the seat as an Independent,  he replied, “I will speak to him.”