Congress poll strategy: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar to head out on bus yatras in two directions next month

The former Chief Minister will start from North Karnataka while KPCC president will start from the south

As the Assembly elections near, Karnataka Congress is set to flag off two bus yatras — one led by the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and another by KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar — in two directions.

While Mr. Siddaramaiah will start his yatra from Basavakalyan in Bidar district in north Karnataka on January 3, Mr. Shivakumar has decided to take out the yatra from the southern part of the State. The latter’s bus is getting ready and he is yet to fix the date and venue for the launch of the yatra, sources in the party said.

Mr. Shivakumar, who initially opposed the bus yatra of Mr. Siddaramaiah, is learnt to have later buried differences on the matter. Instead, Mr. Shivakumar has decided to take out his own yatra, in another indication of the continued tussle within the Karnataka Congress over who is the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the 2023 Legislative Assembly elections.

Both leaders took part in the padayatra launched in December-January last for putting pressure on the State government on the execution of the proposed Mekedatu project across the Cauvery in Kanakapura. They also together took part in party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Sources said Mr. Siddaramaiah, who was elected from Badami constituency in 2018, wanted to consolidate the party’s vote bank among the OBCs, Lingayats, and minorities in north Karnataka. During the yatra, the party is also expected to focus on bringing back leaders who defected to other parties in the region.

While the BJP has planned yatras to cover all the 224 constituencies, the Opposition JD(S) has launched a Pancharatna Yatre led by the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, virtually making it a season of yatras in Karnataka.

The former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, who now is in the BJP, had taken out bus yatras during 1999 and 2004 Assembly elections.