V Somanna vs Siddaramaiah in Varuna: Stage set for interesting battle

The suspense around the BJP contestant in the Varuna constituency ended after the saffron party announced the name of V Somanna to take on Congress-heavyweight Siddaramaiah.

Yes, the Housing Minister in Basavaraj Bommai will be taking on the former Karnataka Chief Minister. V Somanna, who represents the Govindarajanagara constituency in Bengaluru, will be also contesting from Chamrajanagar.

Stage Set for Interesting Battle
Varuna is currently represented by Siddaramaiah's son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah.

Siddaramaiah had earlier won twice from the Varuna constituency and even went on to become the Chief Minister after winning the seat in 2013.

Speculation was doing rounds earlier that the ruling BJP might field BY Vijayendra, the younger son of party patriarch BS Yediyurappa, against Congress strongman Siddaramaiah in Varuna. The constituency is traditionally a Congress bastion but has a significant population of Lingayats, the community Vijayendra belongs to.

However, the party has decided to go with V Somanna, who also belongs to the Lingayat community.

A win here for Somanna might give a boost to his political career and he might possibly emerge as a BJP's Lingayat face of the party.

According to a News18 report, there are around 60,000 Veerashaivas, 40,000 Nayaka STs, 15,000 Kurubas, 10,000 Vokkaligas and over 50,000 Dalit voters in Varuna. BJP thinks that most Veerashaivas would back the party and divide SC/ST votes.

By fielding Somanna, the BJP seems to be leaving no stone unturned to defeat CM-aspirant Siddaramaiah, who was nearly defeated by Sriramulu in 2018 polls.

BJP Releases First List
The BJP on Tuesday fielded Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from his traditional Shiggaon constituency and party strongman BS Yediyurappa's son B Y Vijayendra from Shikaripura constituency as the party released its first list of 189 candidates for the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls

Announcing the names at a press conference here, BJP's Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh said 52 of the 189 candidates are new faces and eight women. Thirty-two of the candidates belong to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 30 Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 16 Scheduled Tribes (STs).