Siddaramaiah to contest from Varuna in Mysuru

BENGALURU: Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah returns to Varuna Assembly seat in Mysuru district to contest the ensuing Assembly polls while his son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah who represented Varuna seat would make way for his contest this time around. In the 2018 Assembly election, Siddaramaiah won from Badami seat in north Karnataka.

Varuna Assembly seat came into existence after the delimitation of Assembly seats in Karnataka in 2008 and then Siddaramaiah won the seat. He retained the Varuna seat in 2013 Assembly polls. The Congress party released its first list of 124 candidates contesting the ensuing Assembly polls on Saturday and in the list Siddaramaiah has his wish conceded.

On Friday, Siddaramaiah told reporters in Chitradurga that he has asked party high command to clear his name for Varuna Assembly seat as per the wishes of his family members.

It may be recalled here that he switched over to Chamundeshwari Assembly seat in Mysuru district in 2018 and lost to Janata Dal Secular (JDS) nominee and former minister G.T. Devegowda. In the 2018 Assembly election, Siddaramaiah had also contested from Badami in north Karnataka and won by a slender margin against BJP’s B. Seeramulu.

Siddaramaiah held a public meeting in Kolar and announced that he would fight the ensuing Assembly polls from Kolar Assembly seat which is closer to Bengaluru than Badami which is about 350-km away from the State capital. He, however, had stated that his contest for the Kolar Assembly seat is ‘subjected to the approval of the high command.’

In the list of candidates, Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah does not find a place and when contacted he did not respond.