I will contest 2023 polls from Badami, says Siddaramaiah
The Hindu
Seeking to clear doubts on his future political moves, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday made it clear that he would contest the next Assembly elections and do so from Badami, which he is presently representing.
“I will not run away from elections. I will contest again. Let there be no doubts in this regard in the minds of people,” Mr. Siddaramaiah remarked in the Legislative Assembly. This came in response to a query by Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri who said there was confusion among people on whether Mr. Siddaramaiah would contest the Assembly elections again. When Revenue Minister R. Ashok sought to know where he was contesting from, Mr. Siddaramaiah first said in lighter vein said that he would pick Padmanabhanagar (which is represented by Mr. Ashok). He later declared that he would stick to Badami.Leaders and legislators hailing from Ballari, which is part of the Kalyana Karnataka region, seem to be a source of much political upheaval in Karnataka, going by recent history. This has been the case since the time illegal mining hit national and international headlines in the 2000s and the place gained reputation as “Republic of Ballari”.
The former BJP MLA of Udupi K. Raghupathi Bhat claimed on Saturday that he contesting the Legislative Council elections from South West Graduates’ Constituency as rebel candidate made the saffron party field its party leader C. T. Ravi in the biennial elections to the Legislative Council from the Legislative Assembly.