‘Badami too far’: Siddu scouts for new seat in Mysuru or Bengaluru

Shyam Sundar Vattam |NT
Bengaluru

With age catching up, Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah is reportedly looking for a constituency in the vicinity of Bengaluru or Mysuru from where he can contest the 2023 Assembly polls. In 2018, Siddaramaiah lost in Chamundeshwari by over 30,000 votes to his JD(S) rival but won by a wafer-thin margin in Badami in Bagalkote district.

His political career would have ended had he lost in both constituencies but the electorate chose him despite he being an outsider in Bagalkote. Former minister , B.B.Chimmanakatti who sacrificed the Badami seat for Siddaramaiah, now wants the former CM to contest from some other constituency. This has put the Congress leader leader in a quandary since there are hardly 10 months left for him to select a safe seat

Apart from this, Siddaramaiah is finding it difficult to visit Badami frequently as he has to fly from Bengaluru to Hubballi and then travel by road for over two hours to reach the constituency. In the absence of a good hotel to stay, he has got the Travellers’ Bungalow totally renovated with all modern amenities at a cost of a few crores.

To remain connected with the constituency, he has to preside over taluk level meetings and these activities are taking a toll on the ageing leader . So, he is scouting for a safe and suitable constituency with a considerable number of Kuruba community voters near Bengaluru or Mysuru where he can devote more time.

There have been offers of seats from some leaders but his followers want him to return to Mysuru and contest from any constituency. Siddaramaih also wants his son Dr Yatindra to contest from Varuna from where he had won in the 2018 Assembly polls and is likely to finalise a seat for himself by early next year