It is possible that veteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah may not be able to contest from the Kolar seat in the forthcoming Karnataka election, as the party’s top officials currently have no intention of nominating him from two constituencies.
Congress has already declared Siddaramaiah’s candidature from the Varuna constituency in the upcoming Assembly election, which he has stated will be his final one.
A Karnataka Congress source told The New Indian, “Siddaramaiah has been offered one seat in the Karnataka Assembly election. He will be contesting from the Varuna constituency in Mysore, which is currently held by his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah.”
According to the source, the party leadership did not discuss Siddaramaiah’s name for the second seat during the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held on Tuesday, which included deliberations on the Kolar assembly constituency.
The Congress party has already conducted three rounds of the Central Election Committee (CEC) meetings at their headquarters, where they announced their first list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections on March 25, which included the names of Siddaramaiah and the Karnataka Congress chief, DK Shivakumar. Shivakumar will be contesting from his traditional Kanakapura assembly seat.
On Thursday, the Congress party released an additional list of 42 candidates for the assembly polls.
However, the party once again skipped the Kolar assembly seat in the second list.
The source said that on Wednesday the CEC discussed 57 seats and 42 candidates were announced on Thursday.
According to the source, the remaining 58 seats will be discussed during the CEC meeting on Thursday. The Congress party has also planned several public meetings for Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the poll-bound state, with a tour plan of 10-15 days for both leaders.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in Karnataka appeared to show solidarity after the CEC meeting in New Delhi. On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah clarified his statement from the previous day, saying that his comments regarding Shivakumar being the Congress CM face were misinterpreted by the media.
The Karnataka Assembly elections for the 224-member legislative body are scheduled for May 10, with the vote count taking place on May 13. The Congress party hopes to regain power, while the BJP seeks to retain its hold and the JD-S led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda will also attempt to win the election.