Siddaramaiah says won’t contest from seat he lost in 2018

Mandya: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is reluctant to contest the 2023 assembly election in the state from the Chamundeshwari assembly segment in Mysuru district where he had lost in 2018.

As the sitting chief minister back in 2018, he chose to contest from Chamundeshwari and vacated his ‘safe seat’ of Varuna in Mysuru district to son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah.

While his son emerged victorious, the senior Siddaramaiah lost to JD(S) leader GT Deve Gowda with a margin of about 34,000 votes in Chamundeshwari seat.

“People are calling me to contest from four to five places. I have not decided yet,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

When asked whether he would try his luck from Chamundeshwari seat in 2023, the Congress leader said, “I will not contest from there.”

Replying to a query on the possibility of elections being held ahead of schedule following the BJP’s victory in four out of five assembly polls recently, Siddaramaiah said he did not think it will happen.

He added that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa and other leaders have also ruled it out. Calling such questions speculative, he said there was no reason for holding early elections when the polls are due in April 2023.

However, Siddaramaiah, who is Congress Legislative Party leader said: “In case there are early elections, we are ready to face. People are in our favour.”

To a query on the rumours that many Congress leaders were ready to switch sides, the CLP leader asked people to wait and watch to see many BJP leaders joining the Congress.