Mysore, April 8, 2013:
With the announcement of congress list and leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly Siddaramaiah certain to contesting polls from Varuna constituency in Mysore district, political circles felt that the battle will be between him and political light weight leaders.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, front runner for the chief minister if the congress comes to power in the state, is in the fray, people in the State would keenly watch the electoral battle in Varuna, a key constituency.
Mr. Siddaramaiah had shifted his electoral base from Chamundeshwari to Varuna during 2008 Assembly elections and he had won with an impressive margin.
However, this time there were speculations that Mr. Siddaramaiah might prefer the old turf, the Chamundeshwari constituency, where he has won elections several times. The Delimitation Commission had formed Varuna constituency after dissolving the Bannur constituency. Several parts of the erstwhile Bannur constituency are now part of Varuna constituency along with some areas of Mysore taluk (earlier with Chamundeshwari), Nanjangud taluk and T. Narsipur taluk. The Varuna constituency has over two lakh voters.
Besides Lingayasts, Varuna comprises a sizable chunk of Kurubas, the community to which Mr. Siddaramaiah belongs. There are Nayakas, Vokkaligas and other communities in the segment. Siddaramanahundi, the native place of Mr. Siddaramaiah, is also part of Varuna.
The former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa of the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), has pitted his confidante Ka. Pu. Siddalingaswamy, a Lingayat, against Mr. Siddaramaiah. Siddalingaswamy, who was described as the “right-hand man” of Mr. Yeddyurappa when he was the Chief Minister, had set his eyes on Varuna even when Mr. Yeddyurappa was in the BJP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will field a Lingayat, Mahendra, chairperson of the Karnataka Exhibition Authority (KEA), from Varuna. The BJP is banking on the caste factor as Varuna has over 40,000 Lingayats.
Janata Dal (S) is fielding Cheluvaraju, who took voluntary retirement from the post of Assistant Commissioner of Police to contest Assembly polls from Varuna.
Barring Mr. Siddaramaiah, it is the first Assembly election for Mr. Siddalingaswamy, Mr. Mahendra and Mr. Cheluvaraju.
A BJP functionary said that the party will leave no stone unturned in its election campaign against the six-time MLA and the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. “Though the Lingayat votes will split with the entry of Siddalingaswamy, the BJP will give a determined fight in Varuna,” he said.
