Of 4 constituencies, Siddaramaiah set to choose his safest bet

After much deliberation, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah seems to have made up his mind on contesting the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls from the Varuna assembly constituency, which is considered a safe bet for him.

In January, Siddaramaiah announced that he would contest from Kolar, giving an opportunity for the Opposition to target him for "running away" from his constituency. However, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi last week asked him during the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held in New Delhi not to take any risks and choose a safe constituency.

"Your each minute and move is crucial and need by the party," News18 reported the former party chief as advising to Siddaramaiah.

Hence, the 75-year-old politician is now prepping up to contest from Varuna.

Varuna is currently represented by his son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah. Siddaramaiah had earlier won twice from Varuna, and even went on to become the Chief Minister after winning the seat in 2013. However, he might contest from two constituencies - Varuna and Badami.

"From many constituencies, they (supporters and party workers) are asking.... From 25 constituencies they are asking (me to contest). I cannot contest from all 25 constituencies. There is one opinion at home that I should be contesting from Varuna, so I have said (to the party's central leadership), clear Varuna, let's see," PTI quoted Siddaramaiah as saying on Friday.

According to a report in the Quint, Varuna has 35,000 Kurubas, 43,000 Scheduled Castes, 23,000 Scheduled Tribes and 12,000 OBCs votes. As a result, it has been considered a safe bet for Siddaramaiah.

Nonetheless, his supporters from Kolar and Badami are urging him to contest from those seats.

Siddaramaiah, who currently represents Badami segment of Bagalkote district in the northern part of the state, has repeatedly indicated that he may not contest from there, citing his inability to give more time to people and party workers of the constituency as the reason.

He made his debut in the in the Assembly in 1983 from Chamundeshwari contituency on a Lok Dal Party ticket. He has won five times from this constituency and tasted defeat thrice. However, he has made it clear that he would not contest from his former constituency of Chamundeshwari in Mysuru. In 2018 polls, he lost to G T Deve Gowda of the JD(S) by 36,042 votes.

With inputs from agencies