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By Ramakrishna Upadhya : Battle-hardened Siddaramaiah may have emerged as the principal candidate for chief ministership in the event of the Congress party getting a majority in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls, but his opponents, both within the Congress and outside, appear to be equally determined to give him a “shock” in the Varuna constituency and thwart his plans.
After dilly-dallying for months, Siddaramaiah chose to contest his ‘last’ election from Varuna, in the heart of Mysuru city and its outskirts, as it was considered to be a ‘safe’ seat. Though Varuna has elected him twice (apart from representing Chamundeshwari five times), it was not an easy decision to make as he had to ‘unseat’ his son, Dr Yathindra, who had won from Varuna in 2018 by a handsome margin of 58,000 votes.
Siddaramaiah’s first choice was Kolar, 70 km from Bengaluru, as, after much scouting, he had found that Kolar’s voter profile perfectly fitted with his ‘Ahinda’ (acronym for Dalits, minorities and backward classes) politics, which had rejuvenated his political career in 2006. The local leaders also extended full support to him and he had declared at a public rally that he would ‘love’ to contest from Kolar, with a caveat, “subject to the approval of the party high command.” Subsequently, he had to change his decision after a pre-poll survey indicated that Kolar was not safe for him and the party asked him to find an alternative constituency.
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Till the last list of four candidates came out, Siddaramaiah was indirectly pressurising the party to allow him to contest from both Varuna and Kolar, but the leadership, particularly the new president, Mallikarjuna Kharge, felt that it would send a ‘wrong message’ to the people that the commander of the Congress forces in Karnataka himself was ‘wobbly’ and needed the safety of two seats to contest from and rejected his request. Siddaramaiah had to stick to Varuna.
Badami saved Sidda’s career
Siddaramaiah was perhaps haunted by his 2018 experience when the people of Chamundeshwari, who had elected him five times earlier, defeated him decisively, and it was only thanks to the new voters of Badami that he was able to save his political career. He had lost by 36,042 votes to GT Deve Gowda of the JDS at Chamundeshwari, while he got elected from Badami by a margin of 1,696 votes against B Srimulu of the BJP, who did not even bother to campaign as he was assured of winning from Malkalmuru, his second constituency. Mind you, in 2018, Siddaramaiah was contesting as chief minister, who had written a new record as the one who had completed a full five-year term after 33 years.
The year 2019 was another bad year as in the Lok Sabha elections that followed, the Congress was mauled like never before, winning just one seat against 25 by the BJP. Siddaramaiah, who had been made leader of the opposition after losing the chief minister’s post, offered to resign, taking moral responsibility for the ‘double defeat’ but the leadership asked him to continue as there was no one else who could be relied upon to rebuild the party. Four years down the line, if the Congress rebounded and threatened to displace the BJP in Karnataka, a large part of the credit would go to Siddaramaiah.
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But, soon after Siddaramaiah filed his nomination papers from Varuna, his political ‘enemies’ got into the act, determined to give him a tough time. Lingayats form the largest community in the constituency, which also has a fair share of the SC/STs, Vokkaligas, Muslims, Kurubas and other OBCs. The BJP decided to field a senior minister, V Somanna, a prominent Lingayat leader, shifting him from Govindarajanagar in Bengaluru. The JDS has put up former MLA Bharathi Shankar, who is an SC leader and BSP’s M Krishnamurthy, capable of drawing about 15,000 votes, is also in the fray.
Vokkaliga votes crucial
Nobody knows for sure which way the Vokkaligas will vote. Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have openly expressed their desire to be the CM and even ‘fought’ intensely in the party forums during the selection of candidates. There is speculation, which no one will confirm, that a silent message has gone out to all Vokkaligas in the Old Mysuru region that “they should do their utmost” to strengthen Shivakumar’s hands to become the chief minister. Would that include ‘facilitating’ Siddaramaiah’s defeat at Varuna, is again a matter of conjecture. Varuna may have turned into a ‘Chakravyuh’ for Siddaramaiah, but his supporters believe that he is canny enough to come out of it.
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In the 2013 Assembly polls, Siddaramaiah, who had ‘migrated’ to the Congress from Janata Dal (Secular) only seven years earlier, was not the top contender for chief minister’s post. There were other seniors in the party like SM Krishna, Kharge, Parameshwar and Shivakumar whose names were being prominently discussed, but the day before the legislature party meeting, Siddaramaiah’s friends lobbied so successfully with the newly elected MLAs that in the presence of the party’s central observes, he emerged as a unanimous choice. That Parameshwar, the KPCC president, had been defeated in the elections, also cleared the way for Siddaramaiah. But, ten years later, as much water has flowed down the Kaveri river, Siddaramaiah faces another test in what he has described as his ‘last’ election.
Siddaramaiah is a veteran of many a battle in his political career spanning over four decades and he has never shied away from challenges. In 2006, when he left the JD(S) after allegedly being “harassed” by the Deve Gowda family and joined the Congress, he contested a by-election from Chamundeshwari constituency. Even though the BJP and the JD(S) combined forces to defeat him, Siddaramaiah emerged victorious, albeit by a thin margin of 257 votes. After the victory, he called it his political ‘rebirth.’
Siddaramaiah’s birthplace, Siddaramanagundi, is part of the Varuna constituency and he has plenty of friends and well-wishers who, having seen his political growth, take pride in it. In fact, people across the community expressed affection and respect for him and it would come as no surprise, that as he nears the end of his long career, they decide to give him another ‘rebirth’.
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