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Did high command snub Siddaramaiah?
The Hindu
The Congress high command’s decision to turn down the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s request to allow him to contest the Legislative Assembly election from Kolar constituency, as a backup seat, seems to be a self-created embarrassment for the senior leader.
The Congress high command’s decision to turn down the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s request to allow him to contest the Legislative Assembly election from Kolar constituency, as a backup seat, seems to be a self-created embarrassment for the senior leader.
This comes a day before the former AICC president Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Kolar on Sunday.
On many occasions, chief ministerial aspirant Mr. Siddaramaiah had publicly announced that he was seeking to contest from Kolar as the second constituency while the party had already fielded him from Varuna, earlier represented by his son. In Varuna, he is facing Housing Minister V. Somanna of the BJP.
At a huge rally in January 2023, the former Chief Minister had announced that he would contest from Kolar if the Congress high command allowed him to. He also promised to visit the constituency every week, if he got elected, and take up comprehensive development of Kolar district.
The party has decided to field Kothur G. Manjunath from Kolar. Mr. Manjunath was elected to the Assembly as an Independent from Mulbagal constituency in 2013 but was disqualified by the High Court of Karnataka on the charge of furnishing an illegal caste certificate.
A couple of months ago, four-time MLA K. Srinivas 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 won from Badami in 2018, was keen on Kolar on the ground that Badami was too far from Bengaluru. His contention was also that Kolar leaders had requested him to contest from the constituency since it would electorally benefit party candidates in neighbouring constituencies.
Mr. Siddaramaiah contested from two seats in 2018. He lost to G.T. Deve Gowda of the JD(S) in Chamundeshwari, but scraped through against B. Sriramulu (BJP) by a margin of about 1,700 votes.
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