Siddaramaiah resolves battle over ticket among his ‘shishyas’ in Mysuru district

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Mysuru: Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah successfully resolved a battle over a ticket for the Nanjangud (Reserved) Assembly Constituency between KPCC Working President N. Dhruvnarayana and former minister Dr H.C.Mahadevappa.

Till recently, the supporters of both leaders had demanded that their nominee must be given the ticket to contest from the Nanjangud seat which is currently held by B.Harshavardhan of BJP who is the son-in-law of Chamarajanagar MP V.Srinivasprasad.

Dr Mahadevappa was representing T.Narasipur (reserved) Constituency till a few years ago but lost to Ashwin Kumar, a Janata Dal-Secular candidate and a political novice, in the 2018 Assembly polls. Now, the Congress leader wants to field his son, Subhas Bose from T.Narasipur while he wants to contest from the neighbouring Nanjangud seat on which Dhruvanarayana has set his sights on.

This had caused a major embarrassment to Congress leaders as both Dr Mahadevappa and Dhruvanarayana are the ‘shishyas’ of Siddaramaiah. The Opposition Leader wanted Dhruvanarayana who had represented the Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha constituency twice, to return to state politics.

So, the former MP was asked to contest from Nanjangud which is a strong fortress of the Congress party but went to the BJP in the previous polls due to the Modi wave. But this time there is no such wave in favour of the saffron party and the Congress Party wants to capitalise on it. Now, the former CM has worked out a formula which is acceptable to both factions.

Siddaramaiah has promised a ticket for Subhas from T.Narasipur and the Nanjangud seat for Dhruvanarayana. Dr Mahadevappa has been reportedly asked to contest from Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha seat in the general election to be held next year. It is learnt that Dr Mahadevappa has agreed to Siddu’s suggestion. Currently, the seat is held by Pratap Simha of the BJP since 2014.