Leader of the Opposition and former Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah announced on Monday that he would contest 2023 assembly elections from Kolar district, located 65 km from Bengaluru.
“Today, among the people of Kolar, I would like to announce that Kolar is going to be the place for my election battle,” he said while addressing a rally in the district.
He, however, announced that the decision would be subject to the approval of the high command. The Congress party has not released its list of candidates as yet.
Siddaramaiah had earlier ruled out any chance of contesting from Badami – the seat he won in the 2018 poll. Speaking to reporters earlier, Siddaramaiah had said, “Badami is too far from here, and I have no intention of contesting from there once again. There are good leaders in Badami who can look after the people of Badami.”
The announcement comes amid apprehensions that a factional rift in the Kolar unit of the party, with former Union minister KH Muniyappa upset, may take a toll on his prospects.
Muniyappa, an influential leader in the district, is allegedly upset with the increasing dominance of senior MLA and former Speaker Ramesh Kumar, a Siddaramaiah loyalist, in the party’s Kolar unit, people close to developments said.
However, before leaving for Kolar, Siddaramaiah met Muniyappa in Bengaluru. The party released videos and photos of the meeting, in which both leaders appeared cordial.
According to Congress party analysis, Kolar has been chosen by Siddaramaiah because of the mix of voters in the district. Kolar is a safe bet for Siddaramaiah as it will consolidate AHINDA votes in his favour, and Vokkaliga leaders of the party from the region also have pledged support to him. AHINDA is a Kannada acronym that stands for ‘Alpasankhyataru’ (minorities), ‘Hindulidavaru’ (Backward Classes) and ‘Dalitaru’ (Dalits).
The above-cited people said the assembly constituency has a good mix of Dalits, Muslim and Kuruba voters and is considered a safe seat for the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), where the people have always elected a JDS or Congress representative.
“In Kolar, the Muslim voters are a major deciding factor, along with a large number of backward-class communities. These are two major factors,” said a party analyst who didn’t want to be named.
According to the analyst, the constituency has over 25,000 registered voters from the Kuruba community to which Siddaramaiah belongs. Apart from that there are around 21,000 voters from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community and over 45,000 Muslim voters in addition to around 9,000 Christian voters.
A large chunk of the Vokkaliga and Lingayat voters could also swing in Congress’ favour, he argued.
The Congress Legislature Party leader’s earlier visit to Kolar in November and his cryptic statement about coming back to the constituency during the filing of nomination had led to speculation that he may contest the 2023 assembly election from here. Siddaramaiah, who currently represents the Badami segment of Bagalkote district in northern Karnataka, had indicated that he might not contest from there, citing his inability to give more time to people and party workers of the constituency.
Srinivasa Gowda, Kolar’s sitting MLA from JD(S), who has switched sides to Congress, had earlier indicated that he would not be contesting polls and wants Siddaramaiah to contest. Siddaramaiah, who has announced that the 2023 assembly polls would be his last, had made it clear that he would not contest from Chamundeshwari. As the then-sitting chief minister, he lost the 2018 polls in Chamundeshwari to JD(S) candidate G T Deve Gowda by 36,042 votes.
Making his debut in the Assembly in 1983, Siddaramaiah got elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal Party ticket. He has won five times from this constituency and tasted defeat thrice. After neighbouring Varuna became a constituency in 2008 following delimitation, Siddaramaiah represented it till he vacated the seat for his son Dr Yathindra (now MLA) in the 2018 assembly polls and went back to his old constituency of Camundeshwari.
However, a faction within the Congress argued that Siddaramaiah should not be allowed to contest from two seats, which is a violation of the decision taken during the party’s ‘Nav Sankalp Shivir’ in Udaipur in 2022, where it was decided that each family would get one ticket.
“If he is contesting from two seats, including Kolar, and if his son Yathindra also contests it would be a violation,” said a leader close to DK Shivakumar said.
(With agency inputs)
