BENGALURU: Congress leaders from Tumakuru have urged party leader Siddaramaiah to contest from the Chikkanayakanahalli seat, which they felt to be a safe bet for him, in the 2023 assembly polls.
A delegation, led by former zilla panchayat member Y C Siddaramaiah, a Kuruba community leader, called upon Siddaramaiah at his residence here on Thursday, and presented a memorandum. Interestingly, former minister T B Jayachandra, too, accompanied the delegation.
Contesting from Chikkanayakanahalli constituency will be safe for Siddaramaiah, an AHINDA leader, as it predominantly comprises AHINDA voters. If he contests from there, it will have a cascading effect on all 11 assembly seats in the district, parts of old Mysuru Region and to Shivamogga and even Davanagere, the memorandum noted.
“We also suggested to Siddaramaiah to get a survey of the constituency done, and he agreed. He also asked us to organise the party effectively,” Y C Siddaramaiah told TNIE. Later in the evening, the delegation met former ministers M B Patil and Zameer Ahmed Khan, and appealed to them to convince Siddaramaiah to contest from Chikkanayakanahalli. Meanwhile in Tumakuru, former MLA K N Rajanna said the constituency is ideal for Siddaramaiah.
“Age is a factor and Siddaramaiah cannot travel often to the far away Badami constituency. So, we want him to contest from Chikkanayakanahalli seat,” he told reporters. Interestingly, Rajanna had invited Law Minister and Chikkanayakanahalli MLA J C Madhuswamy to join the Congress after the BJP did not assign him the district in-charge minister post.
According to sources, both Madhuswamy and Siddaramaiah are in good terms and the former may take a call on contesting the Tumakuru Lok Sabha seat from the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
It can be noted that T B Jayachandra’s son T J Santhosh was the nearest rival of Madhuswamy and came second in the 2018 assembly polls from Chikkanayakanahalli seat.