MYSURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is keen to get his son Rakesh contest the next Assembly election from his present Varuna constituency, is all set to move back to Chamundeshwari, the assembly seat he had won five times.
Siddaramaiah is keeping a close watch and is working out the permutations and combinations on delimitation of constituencies and also on reservations for both the zilla and taluk panchayat elections that would set a stage for his comeback to the Chamundeshwari constituency. With the Election Commission guidelines out for delimitation of constituencies, Siddaramaiah has taken note of the increase in population on the outskirts of the city and assigned the work on delimitation of the constituency to his close associates including former zilla panchayat (ZP) chief K Mari Gowda. Sources said he also held talks with the district officials and sought to know details on delimitation of the constituency and directed them to consider suggestions given by his followers.
On his return from Delhi, Siddaramaiah will work out categorization of zilla and taluk panchayat constituencies that will give him an edge to field many of his supporters and prepare the ground for the 2018 Assembly elections.
Chamundeshwari, which had eight ZP constituencies, will have 10 constituencies after delimitation. The number of taluk panchayat seats have been increased from 29 to 38.
Although Siddaramaiah had announced that he will retire from electoral politics after completing his term as Chief Minister, pressure from party men and criticism from opposition parties made him rethink and decide to contest the 2018 polls.