Upcoming Karnataka assembly polls my last electoral battle: Siddaramaiah

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday reiterated that upcoming Assembly elections will be his last electoral battle but he will remain active in Karnataka politicsThe former Chief Minister last month announced his decision to contest from Kolar this time subject to approval from the Congress high command However he said he is ready to enter the poll fray from whichever segment the party asks him to whether it is from Badami or VarunaOn Tuesday he addressed a large number of his supporters and party workers who had come from Badami to urge him to contest from his current constituency once againYou have to understand my difficulty too Im 76 now and this will be my last election I will not be contesting an election again I will be in politics but will not contest polls this is my last election Siddaramaiah saidThe Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly said I have thought about contesting the election from a constituency nearer to Bengaluru Despite this I will contest from wherever the high command asks me toIf they ask me to contest from Badami I will contest from Badami if they say Varuna I will contest from there and if they say Kolar I will contest from there Please dont mistake me in case I dont contest from Badami I will still remain and work like a Badami MLA I can never forget the people of Badami he addedThe Congress legislature party leader who is nursing Chief Ministerial ambitions in the event of party coming to power and is looking for a safe seat in January announced that he will be contesting the polls from the Kolar ending all speculations Siddaramaiah who currently represents Badami segment of Bagalkote district in north Karnataka has repeatedly indicated that he may not contest from there citing his inability to devote more time for people and party workers of the constituency as the reasonAlso Read Tripura assembly elections Highvoltage campaign ends polling on Feb 16Speaking to supporters amid repeated interruptions from them with calls to contest from Badami again he said In my application to the Congress party I have said that Im a sitting member in Badami I will contest if the high command asks me to contest from there if not people from Varuna are asking me to contest from there and if the party agrees I will contest from there people from Kolar are also calling and if asked I will contest from thereNoting that his plans of contesting from constituency other than Badami is only because he will not be able to be with the people there and address their issues on a daily basis he said people of Badami are good you made me someone who had come from Mysuru to win from your place Im indebted to youI will inform the high command regarding your pressure on me to contest from Badami once again The high command will meet after February 26 after the AICC session when the screening committee meeting will be called Party observers from Delhi who met me this morning too have seen you with your demand the party will ultimately decide he addedSiddaramaiah who had earlier too announced that 2023 assembly polls will be his last had made it clear that he would not contest from his former constituency Chamundeshwari in Mysuru As the then sitting CM he lost the 2018 polls in Chamundeshwari to JDS G T Deve Gowda by 36042 votesHe however won Badami the other constituency from where he had contested in the 2018 polls and defeated B Sriramulu BJP by 1696 votesMaking his debut in the Assembly in 1983 Siddaramaiah had got elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal Party ticket He has won five times from this constituency and tasted defeat thriceAfter neighbouring Varuna became a constituency in 2008 following delimitation Siddaramaiah represented it till he vacated the seat for his son Dr Yatindra MLA in the 2018 assembly polls and went back to his old constituency of ChamundeshwariThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever