Karnataka polls: Battle for Varuna may not be a cakewalk for Siddu

A constituency to watch out for in Karnataka is Varuna. The battle is between Congress strongman, Siddaramaiah and senior BJP leader V Somanna.

What seemed at first as a cake-walk for Siddaramaiah has changed now. Somanna is no small-timer and the housing minister of Karnataka is giving a tough fight to the Congress leader. Further more all the big-wigs in the BJP have shifted focus to Varuna, which has made the battle even more close.

Photo Credit: Siddaramaiah

While filing his nomination, Siddaramaiah had told his supporters that he would not visit this constituency much as he has a bigger role to play. He had said that his duty is to ensure that the Congress wins the elections and hence he has to tour the state.

Siddaramaiah has however changed track and is in fact more time at this constituency. He has spent four days in the third week of April and is expected to return towards the last leg of the campaign.

Elections in Karnataka are being held on May 10.

Siddaramaiah would tour Varuna and campaign for himself for a few days more.

When Somanna's candidature was announced, it was felt that he was being made a scapegoat. He is an outsider in Varuna, but the party's leadership has gone all out to ensure that he wins.

In Varuna the battle is however now a simple one. There is former BJP MLA Dr. Bharti Shankar, an SC leader contesting now on a Janata Dal (S) ticket. The entry of BSP state president M Krishnamurthy has made the battle even more complex. What the BJP is looking for is that Shankar and Krishnamurthy may divide the SC votes and this would go against Siddaramaiah.

The Varuna constituency was formed in 2008 and since then Siddaramaiah has represented it twice. His son, Dr Yatindra is the sitting MLA from this seat.

Numbers:

Prior to contesting from Varuna, Siddaramaiah fought the elections from Chamundeshwari eight times. He won the elections on five occasions- 1983, 1985, 1994, 2004 and 2006. In the 19989, 1999 and 2018 elections, he however lost from this seat.

Yatindra however won the elections from Varuna by a huge margin of 58,616 seats in the 2018 elections. Siddaramaiah on the other hand sounds confident and says that he would win by a margin of 1 lakh votes.

The caste cauldron:

In Varuna, the BJP has polled better when compared to the Chamundeshwari seat. The Veerashaiva-Lingayats are an influential group and they have over the years been the BJP's natural voters.

Siddaramaiah is backing heavily on two factors. His son has earned the good-will of the people during his tenure as MLA. The fact that he is heavily campaigning for his father will also make a difference. Moreover Siddaramaiah is a native the segment and has a good connect with the voters.

On the face of it, it appears 'advantage Siddaramaiah,' but the battle may not be as easy as he would have expected it to be.

The results of the Karnataka elections will be out on May 13.