I am the candidate in Channapatna no matter who contests: D K Shivakumar

Channapatna: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday reiterated that he would be the Congress candidate for the Channapatna bypolls no matter who contests from here on his party’s ticket.

The constituency in Ramanagara district fell vacant after JD(S) second-in-command H D Kumaraswamy resigned from the assembly after he won the Mandya Lok Sabha election as the NDA candidate and became the Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries.

“I am the one who issues B-form and I am the signatory for it. Hence, it is a vote for me, no matter who contests,” Shivakumar told reporters at his Sadashivanagar residence in the city.

Since the Congress will be taking on a combined opposition of the BJP and JD(S) in the bypoll, Shivakumar said it would not matter who joined hands.

Replying to a query on whether he would welcome BJP MLC C P Yogeshwara if he showed interest in joining Congress, he said no one has approached him and such proposals are not before him.

Channapatna has been a JD(S) fort. Kumaraswamy won from here in the assembly polls in 2023 and in the Mandya Lok Sabha election in 2024. The Congress is trying hard to wrest the seat from the JD(S).

However, the JD(S) leadership is buoyed by the alliance it has forged with the BJP.