'Let them field anyone from Badami, I am not worried', says Siddaramaiah

Elections are fought on ideologies and not between persons, Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah said. He was responding to a question in which he was asked about his possible opponent in Badami.

When asked about his opinion about Sriramulu of the BJP taking him on at Badami, Siddaramaiah said, " let them field anyone, I am not worried. Siddaramaiah, who has already filed his nominations from Chamundeshwari constituency, has maintained that he was under pressure from local party leaders in Bagalkote and Vijayapura districts to contest from Badami as it would benefit Congress' prospects in the region.

We are fighting against communalism, we are fighting communal forces and we want to defeat communal forces," he added.

The Chief Minister also said that the people of Chamundeshwari have already decided to vote in his favour.The Congress in its list of candidates for 218 seats announced on April 15, had named Dr Devraj Patil as its nominee from Badami, but issuing of B-form (required to be filed by a political party mentioning the name of its approved candidate) to Patil has been put on hold.

Meanwhile, Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa said he was ready to contest against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from Badami if the party's national president Amit Shah asked him to do so."Our party's national president will decide whether I should contest or someone else. If I'm asked to contest, I'm ready. If he asks someone else to contest, they will contest," Yeddyurappa told reporters in Chikkamagaluru.

The former Chief Minister further said, "But it is certain that we will field a good candidate in Badami and defeat Siddaramaiah. BJP has already taken a decision in this regard."Badami in Bagalkote will be the second constituency from where Siddaramaiah will be contesting the May 12 Karnataka assembly polls, the other being Chamundeshwari in Mysuru.