“I will discuss this matter again with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and take a call on Saturday,” Siddaramaiah told the media in Mysuru.
BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, is yet to clear out the mystery that whether he would file a second nomination from Badami seat in Bagalkote district of North Karnataka after filing his nomination from his old seat of Chamundeshwari.
Siddaramaiah who has been elected five times between 1983 and 2006 from the Chamundeshwari seat feels it is safe for him to contest from his old seat.
The Janata Dal (S), who considers Chamundeshwari its stronghold has challenged Siddaramaiah for a strong fight. Despite cautions by his advisors the star campaigner of the Congress has decided to fight the May 12 assembly polls from there against his old party.
The tension of the election between both the party has risen to an extent that prohibitory orders were issued around the taluk office in Mysuru when Siddaramaiah and the JD(S) candidate from Chamundeshwari – his old campaign manager, G T Deve Gowda, – filed their nominations on Friday.
On the other hand, the Congress party wants Siddaramaiah to contest from Badami too because it would boost the party’s prospects in North Karnataka, where it is engaged in a tough fight with the BJP. The party fears that he might lose or be so tied up in this constituency that it would affect campaigning time in the rest of the state.
A senior party leader told a daily that “AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, K C Venugopal, thinks that if the CM contests from Badami, it will help in many of the 90 North Karnataka seats. It will be seen an assurance to the people of that region that the CM, a South Karnataka man, cares for them also and would like to be among them”.
Voting will be held in Karnataka on 12 May 2018 in all 224 constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
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