Karnataka: Siddaramaiah will contest from Kolar

Bangalore. In Karnataka, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah while addressing a public meeting in Kolar on Monday announced that he will contest the next election from Kolar. He said, ‘I have decided to contest from Kolar, but the high command will decide on this. He was giving indications of contesting from Kolar for some time. He was looking for a safe seat for himself and had also thought of contesting from Varuna, Badami, Hebbal, Koppal and Chamarajpet constituencies. Significantly, at present Siddaramaiah is the representative from Badami seat of Bagalkot district. However, he had already said that he will not contest from this seat.

Political analysts believe that the Kolar election will not be easy for Siddaramaiah. The factionalism here can trouble him, while he has never worked continuously in any constituency, he has been changing his area, his doing so can go against him. Siddaramaiah said among thousands of enthusiastic supporters in Kolar that now there is no need to doubt anyone, I have decided to contest from Kolar.

Kolar: Safe seat for Congress
There is an effective presence of Dalits, Muslims and Kuruba voters in Kolar. It is considered a safe seat for the Congress and the Janata Dal (S). The voters here have always chosen JDS or Congress representative. In the Lok Sabha elections, the people here made the BJP candidate victorious. Siddaramaiah is supported by AHINDA – Minorities, Hindulidavaru or Backward Classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits – and is projected as the strongest leader of this group. He also belongs to the Kuruba community, which is the third largest caste group in Karnataka after Lingayats and Vokkaligas.

Kolar seat is vacant for former CM
Political analyst Bhaskar Rao points out that Muslim voters are a major deciding factor in Kolar, along with a large number of backward class communities. These are the two main factors. Siddaramaiah had said in an interview that Congress workers and leaders of Kolar are requesting him to contest from Kolar. At the same time, Kolar is also a safe seat for the Congress. In fact, the MLA from here, K Srinivasa Gowda, who was expelled from the JD(S) for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections, is now with the Congress. He has vacated this seat for the former CM.

Siddaramaiah will contest on two seats
In the last assembly elections, Congress veteran Siddaramaiah (75) contested from Badami assembly seat in Bagalkot district and Chamundeshwari seat in Mysuru. He won the Badami seat by a margin of 1,696 votes while in Chamundeshwari he lost to his strong rival GT Deve Gowda of the JD(S). Gowda won the seat with a huge margin of 36,042 votes. Congress insiders told that like the 2018 assembly elections, Siddaramaiah can contest from two seats this time too. “There is a possibility that he may also contest from Varuna (Mysore) or Chamarajpet (Bangalore). But the final decision lies with them. A senior former minister of Congress told the condition of anonymity.