MYSURU: Disturbed by Congress leading by 50,000 votes and fearing that would drown his son Yathindra’s political prospects in Varuna constituency, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is leading from the front, chairing marathon meetings with party leaders. He held a meeting for the third day in two weeks, exclusively for reviewing the party’s performance and to find out the reasons behind erosion of the Congress vote bank.
Varuna is considered to be the favourite seat of Siddaramaiah, as he won two elections and went on to become the leader of opposition, and also chief minister of the state, from the constituency. However, the CLP leader, under pressure from family, vacated Varuna to safely launch the political career of his son Yathindra.
Siddaramaiah recently called a separate meeting of six Zilla panchayat constituencies and decided to revamp the party with new faces in Varuna. He also decided to consolidate backward communities-Dalits, interacting with leaders and workers at regular intervals to avoid creating a political vacuum in the constituency.
In a closed-door meeting, Siddaramaiah announced that he would review developmental works and would hear out all party workers from the constituency.
However, leaders, on condition of anonymity, said, Siddaramaiah should have done this exercise before the Lok Sabha elections. “He is serious now, fearing that his son will lose from Varuna in the assembly elections.He should hold similar meetings in other constituencies to revive the party,” a party worker said.