BENGALURU: Kicking off his campaign in Varuna Assembly constituency in Mysuru on Saturday, Congress nominee and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah toured as many as 16 villages while being was accompanied by his son Dr Yathindra who currently represents Varuna in the Assembly. Siddaramaiah had filed his papers on Wednesday.
As per his schedule, Siddaramaiah campaigned in Karya, Karepura, Hadya, Banooru, Tagadur, Chunchanahalli, Dasanooru among others and the day’s campaign ended at Avatalapura. Varuna seat came into existence during the delimitation of Assembly seats in 2008.
Prior to his victories in Varuna , Siddaramaiah had won from Chamundeshwari Assembly seat in 1983, 1985, 1994 and 2004 elections.
Siddaramaiah has won from Varuna twice in 2008 and 2013 and the 2018 election was won by his son Dr Yathindra. He contested in Chamundeshwari Assembly seat and also from Badami Assembly seat in north Karnataka.
Winning Badami seat, Siddaramaiah lost the Chamundeshwari seat in his home district of Mysuru. However, in 2023, Siddaramaiah has returned to Varuna seat while his son, the incumbent MLA gave way for his candidature.
Yathindra is busy campaigning for his father in Varuna seat.
His opponents in the fray are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee V. Somanna and former MLA and Janata Dal Secular (JDS) nominee Dr Bharathi Shankar.
To begin his campaign, Siddaramaiah arrived at Suttur village and he told reporters that B.L. Santosh, Rasthriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been camping in Varuna seat with an intention to defeat him and exuded confidence that the tactics of BJP won’t work in Varuna seat.
BJP Lok Sabha member representing Mysuru-Kodagu seat Pratap Simha observed that Siddaramaiah is ‘scared’ of defeat in Varuna against BJP nominee Somanna.
Pointing out at a statement of Siddaramaiah who had stated he would visit Varuna seat to file papers, Pratap Simha stated after BJP announced V. Somanna as its nominee for Varuna seat, Siddaramaiah came running to the constituency two-days ahead of him filing the papers and again visited Varuna (on Saturday).
Talking to media persons in Suttur, Siddamaiah dismissed that he was scared of defeat in Varuna in the ensuing election.
