Siddaramaiah tries to retain his fortress

Chamarajanagar: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has held roadshows at all four constituencies in the Chamarajanagar district, in order to secure his position there. The district has been a stronghold of the Congress for over a decade now. In the previous Assembly elections, the Congress won seats in all the four constituencies of the district, that is, Hanur, Kollegal, Chamarajanagar and Gundlupet.

The district has a considerable number of Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and minorities, whom the CM is trying to influence. The only competition in this region comes from the JD(S) and, in order to prevent the votes from this section to go to the JD(S), Mr. Siddaramaiah has hinted of a pact between the BJP and the JD(S).

He pointed out that the JD(S) candidate in Hanur is originally from Bengaluru, having no knowledge about the region. Whereas the Congress candidate for the constituency, Narendra, was a ‘Son of the Soil’ (Mannina Maga). He also took the case of the nominee in Kollegal, where the BSP has allied with the JD(S), contesting its state chief N Mahesh.

Though the CM keeps undermining the value of the other candidates in the segment, BJP’s nominee in Kollegal B.N. Nanjunda Swamy is expected to be a tough competition for the Congress candidate A.R. Krishnamurthy.

In his rally, Mr. Siddaramaiah also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being unable to keep the rising fuel prices under check. “The PM has failed to bring down fuel prices in the country, despite a slide in the price of crude oil on the international market, which has led to a steep hike in the price of essential commoditied,” he said.

He also campaigned for the candidates C Puttaranga Shetty for Chamarajanagar and M.C. Mohan Kumari for Gundlupet.