Will former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seek re-election from Varuna Assembly constituency in Mysuru district in the upcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly scheduled to be held in 2023?
Even as speculation is rife over the possible return of Mr Siddaramaiah to Varuna, a constituency presently represented by his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Working President R Dhruvanarayan also made an appeal in this regard after a section of the crowd gathered for a public function at Tagadur in the constituency on Monday rooted for the former CM’s return.
‘Sacred constituency’
Addressing the gathering ahead of the launch of a padayatra celebrating 75 years of Indian independence, Mr Dhruvanarayan recalled that Mr Siddaramaiah went onto become the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly after his successful election in 2009 from Varuna, which was a newly carved out constituency after the delimitation exercise in 2008. He then went on to occupy the post of Chief Minister after his second consecutive win from the constituency in 2013.
Towards the end of the speech, Mr Dhruvanarayan said he hoped that the people of the constituency, who had elected Mr Yathindra with a handsome margin of 59,000 votes, will re-elect him. But his speech was interrupted with shouts from the gathering for Mr Siddaramaiah’s return. Acknowledging the same, Mr Dhruvanarayan said he too would appeal to Mr Siddaramaiah to contest from Varuna, which he described as a “sacred constituency”, instead of considering other constituencies in the State.
Humiliating defeat, redeeming victory
It may be mentioned here that Mr Siddaramaiah, who contested from the neighbouring Chamundeshwari segment in the 2018 Assembly elections after making room in Varuna for his son Yathindra, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of JD(S) candidate G T Deve Gowda. However, he managed to return to the Legislative Assembly as he won from Badami, the other constituency from which he had contested.
Mr Siddaramaiah, who has already made it clear that he will not contest from Chamundeshwari again, was on Monday confronted with questions from the media whether his participation in the padayatra programme at Tagadur in Varuna was an indication of his possible return to his former constituency.
Without addressing the question directly, the former Chief Minister said he had participated in similar padayatra programmes organised by the Congress party in connection with 75 years of independence at Yelwal in Chamundeshwari constituency on Saturday and earlier at Chintamani and Malur, too.
“Does it mean I will be contesting from there?” he countered. However, he said he would announce the constituency he will contest from when the Assembly elections draw closer.
