The Congress high command’s decision to turn down Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s earlier request to allow him to contest the assembly elections from Kolar constituency as a backup seat appears to be a self-made embarrassment for the senior leader.
This has come to the fore a day before the rally of former AICC President Rahul Gandhi in Kolar on Sunday.
public announcements
On several occasions, Chief Ministerial aspirant Mr. Siddaramaiah had publicly announced that he wanted to contest from Kolar as a second constituency, while the party had already fielded him from Varuna, previously represented by his son Used to do In Varuna, he is pitted against BJP’s Housing Minister V. Somanna.
At a massive rally in January 2023, the former chief minister had announced that he would contest from Kolar if the Congress high command allowed him. He also promised that if elected, he would visit the constituency every week and do extensive development of Kolar district.
The party has elected Kothur G from Kolar. It has been decided to field Manjunath. Mr. Manjunath was elected to the Legislative Assembly as an independent from the Mulbagal constituency in 2013, but was disqualified by the Karnataka High Court on charges of submitting an invalid caste certificate.
why kolar
A few months ago, four-time MLA K. Srinivasa Gowda, who was elected from Kolar in 2018, resigned from the JD(S) and joined the Congress. Apparently, he asked Mr. Siddaramaiah to contest from Kolar. The 75-year-old Congress leader, who had won from Badami in 2018, was keen on Kolar on the grounds that Badami is far away from Bengaluru. His contention was also that the Kolar leaders had requested him to contest from the constituency as it would give electoral advantage to the party’s candidates in neighboring constituencies.
Mr. Siddaramaiah contested from two seats in 2018. He lost to GT Deve Gowda of JD(S) in Chamundeshwari, but lost against B Sriramulu (BJP) by a margin of around 1,700 votes.
Mr Siddaramaiah, who has contested 11 elections since his debut in 1983, has won eight assembly elections.