KARNATAKA CHIEF Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said he would contest the forthcoming Assembly elections from a new constituency — Chamundeshwari — close to his present Varuna constituency in Mysuru district. Siddaramaiah, who visited a village in Chamundeshwari region Thursday to attend a wedding and meet people, said, “I will contest from Chamundeshwari. It is 100 per cent.” The statement comes in the wake of remarks made by JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy that Siddaramaiah would not contest from Chamundeshwari because of fear of losing the election. In 2006, Siddaramaiah was elected to the state legislature as a Congress candidate from Chamundeshwari by a wafer thin margin of 257 votes after the ruling JD(S) and BJP combine went all out to defeat him. Ahead of the polls, he had quit the JD(S) to join the Congress. The JD(S) this time has dared Siddaramaiah to contest from Chamundeshwari and said it would teach him a lesson in the Mysuru region in the forthcoming polls. Siddaramaiah has expressed his intent to move to the Chamundeshwari constituency in order to field his younger son Yathindra Siddaramaiah in Varuna constituency from where the CM was elected in 2013. It is not clear if the Congress intends to give Siddaramaiah’s son a ticket from Varuna though.
