Siddu’s two-seat formula worries Congress

NT Correspondent

Mysuru / Kolar: Chief Ministerial aspirant and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah’s push to contest from two seats has caused anxiety among some party leaders. Congress workers have said that one of the factors that affected the party negatively in the 2018 Assembly elections was the fact that Siddaramaiah contested from two constituencies: Badami in Bagalkot district and Chamundeshwari in Mysuru district.

This, they said, made the bigwig focus more on campaigning in the two segments from where he would contest and fail to do justice to his duties as the star campaigner of the party. The incumbent party had been banking heavily on Siddaramaiah’s pan-Karnataka popularity, best capitalised with roadshows and rallies, they reasoned.

BJP had fielded popular leader B Sriramulu from Badami and the sitting CM scraped a narrow win of around 1,600 votes. However, he lost Chamundeshwari to JD(S)’ Vokkaliga strongman GT Devegowda by more than 36,000 votes. So the gamble didn’t pay off as Congress managed only 80 seats, down from 122 in 2013.

The BJP on the other hand became the single-largest party with 104 wins. However, Congress boasted of a higher vote share of 38.14 per cent compared to the BJP’s 36.35 per cent. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s last-ditch campaigning also played a role. He had even mocked the then CM for contesting from two seats.

Party leaders are experiencing a déjà vu as Siddaramaiah’s candidacy from his former constituency Varuna has already been declared in the Congress first list. His son Yathindra who is the sitting MLA from the segment has decided to vacate the seat in favour of Siddaramaiah, who has disclosed that this will be his last election. Yathindra will not contest from elsewhere and would presumably contest from Varuna in the next Assembly polls.

Complicating matters is the fact that the CLP leader had already made his desire to contest from Kolar constituency where the sitting MLA is K Srinivas Gowda, another JD(S) Vokkaliga leader who is all set to join the Congress.

Siddaramaiah had said that he didn’t want to contest from Badami again because it was too far away from Bengaluru due to which he wouldn’t be able to travel to his constituency often. The jury is out on whether contesting from two seats would actually be detrimental to Congress fortunes. Some in the party reason that Yathindra can campaign in Varuna and ensure a victory for his father since he was well received for being “polite and reciprocal”.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah can focus on campaigning in his second seat, they reasoned. However, others want him to contest only from his “safe seat” (Varuna) and focus on covering as much ground as he can to get the party across the 113 magic number in the Assembly