Karnataka Assembly Polls 2023: Siddaramaiah From Varuna As Congress Announces First List Of 124 Candidates Filled With Family Members Of Leaders

The Congress today (March 25) announced its first list of 124 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka, with former chief minister Siddaramaiah being fielded from his Varuna seat.

The party's decision to field him from Varuna, currently held by his son Yathindra, was on expected lines after the party high command forced him to abandon plans to take the electoral plunge from the Kolar constituency. With internal party surveys predicting a rough ride for the former CM in Kolar, the high command wants him to campaign extensively across the state and avoid getting tied down with electioneering activities in his own seat. 

In the 2018 state assembly elections, Siddaramaiah, who was then the incumbent chief minister, contested from two constituencies - Badami in the Bagalkote district of Kittur Karnataka and Chamundeshwari in the Old Mysuru region. He had vacated Varuna for his son and chosen political successor Yathindra.

While Siddaramaiah scraped through in Badami by a meagre margin of 1696 votes, he suffered a humiliating loss in Chamundeshwari as JD-S veteran G.T. Deve Gowda trounced him by a margin of over 36, 042 votes. The former CM blamed his defeat on the machinations of forces within his party.

In Badami, Siddaramaiah calculated that he would notch a facile victory on the strength of his numerically sizeable Kuruba community and the en-masse backing of Muslims. Still, BJP candidate Sriramulu posed a strong challenge by achieving a counter-consolidation of Nayaka Scheduled Tribe community votes and Lingayats.

After his narrow win in Badami, Siddaramaiah did not nurse the constituency claiming that distance from Bengaluru prevented him from discharging his duties as the local legislator.

Shivakumar to be fielded from Kanakapura.

Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar will contest from Kanakapura assembly constituency. Shivakumar has continuously represented the constituency since 2008 after his erstwhile Sathanur seat was abolished during the delimitation exercise (Kanakapura seat includes several areas from the old Sathanur seat).

Shivakumar's first foray into electoral politics was in the 1985 assembly elections. A little-known party operative then, he was fielded as the Congress candidate from the Sathanur against former Prime Minister H.D Deve Gowda, a powerful leader of the undivided Janata Party and regarded as the number two in the Ramakrishna Hedge-led Janata government.

In the 1989 state assembly elections that saw Congress regaining power, Shivakumar won as the party candidate from Sathanur. He was briefly made the prison minister in the Congress government led by S Bangarappa.

In the 1994 assembly election, when the Ramakrishna Hegde-Deve Gowda duo propelled the Janata party back to power, Shivakumar narrowly managed to retain the seat, this time fighting as an independent candidate.

It was the 1999 assembly elections that cemented his place as a prominent leader in the already overcrowded Congress leadership landscape. Back as a Congress candidate, Shivakumar defeated Deve Gowda's son and former CM HD Kumaraswamy in the Sathanur seat, marking the beginning of a long-standing rivalry. Shivakumar, who was by then seen as a protege of Chief Minister S.M Krishna, was inducted as the urban development minister in his cabinet.

Other Prominent Faces

The party has fielded former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara from the Koratagere (S.C.) constituency in Tumkur. In 2013, Parameshwara lost the seat to the Janata Dal(Secular) candidate P Sudhakara Lal but narrowly managed to regain the seat in 2018 elections.

Despite significant resistance from the local unit of the Congress, former minister KH Muniyappa was chosen as the party candidate from the Devanahalli seat. Several Congress leaders and workers of Devanahalli tendered mass resignation over reports that the party would be fielding Muniyappa from the constituency seat.

A seven-time M.P. from Kolar Lok Sabha seat, Muniyappa bite the dust in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He was defeated by BJP's S Muniswamy, a little-known corporator from Bengaluru.

Priyanka Kharge, son of national Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, will be fielded from Chitapur (S.C.).

Sitting Belagavi Rural MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar, known for enjoying proximity to state president Shivakumar, was also renominated.

The party also renominated the father-daughter duo of Ramalinga Reddy and Sowmya Reddy from key assembly constituencies in Bengaluru city. While Sowmya Reddy will contest from Jayanagar, Ramalinga Reddy will enter the fray from the neighbouring BTM Layout. Similarly, the father-son duo of Krishnappa and Priya Krishna will be fielded from Vijaynagar and Govindraj Nagar constituencies in Bengaluru city.

Veteran party leader Shyamanuru Shivashankarappa will seek re-election from Davanagere South) while his son S.S. Mallikarjun will contest from Davanagere North.

Kusuma H, the wife of late IAS officer D K Ravi, will be fielded from the Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency.

The party has also renominated the powerful Malayali-origin duo of K.J George and N A Harris from Sarvagnanagar and Shantinagar, respectively.

In coastal region, U T Khader will contest from Mangaluru, Mithun Rai from Moodbidri, Rakshit Shivaram from Beltangady, Ramanath Rai from Bantwal, Krishnappa G from Sullia, Gopal Poojary from Byndoor, Vinay Kumar Sorake from Kaup and Dinesh Hegde Molahalli from Kundapur legislative constituency.

Darshan Dhruvanarayan, the son of recently deceased KPCC Working President and former Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruva Narayan, will be fielded from Nanjanagud reserved seat.

H M Ganesh Prasad, son of late Congress leader H.S Mahadeva Prasad, secured the party nomination from Gundlupet Assembly constituency. Mahadeva Prasad has won Gundlupet constituency multiple time, albeit from different parties. In 1999, he was a JD(U) MLA, in 2004 JD(S) MLA and in 2008 and 2013 a Congress MLA.

Former Chief Minister late Dharam Singh’s son Ajay Dharam Singh has been given ticket from Jevargi Kalaburagi

Dinesh Gundu Rao, son of former Congress CM of Karnataka Gundu Rao, will enter the fray from Gandhinagar seat in Bengaluru. He has been representing this seat since 1999. Krishna Byre Gowda, son of former minister C Byre Gowda, will contest from Byatarayanapura seat.

B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, a transporter turned casino operator, will be fielded from Chamarajpet. Zameer started his career in the JD(S) and was among those who left the party with Siddaramaiah to join the Congress.

Ashok Kheny, the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited Managing Director based in Bengaluru, will be fielded from Bidar south. Kheny lost the seat fighting as a Congress candidate in the 2018 elections

The party's central election committee cleared the first list of candidates after a meeting in Delhi on March 17. The committee is chaired by Congress chief Kharge. Rahul Gandhi was also present at the meeting.