Siddaramaiah’s son to enter politics: Yathindra may contest 2018 from father’s constituency

With the Karnataka Assembly polls slated for next year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son has begun campaigning on behalf of his father at the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency. The CM’s son, Dr Yathindra, on Thursday, began the campaigning by offering prayers to the Chamundeshwari deity in Mysuru. According to a Congress source, CM Siddaramaiah is likely to contest from the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency this time. In the previous elections, Siddaramaiah had won from the Varuna constituency. The source revealed that his son Yatindra, who is all set to test his political fortunes for the first time, may contest from Varuna this time around. After the temple visit, Yathindra took part in a meeting at Gunjral Chhatra Gram Panchayat, signalling his father’s intention to contest from the constituency. During the 2008 Assembly elections, Siddaramaiah shifted to Varuna constituency after the election commission’s delimitation process, and won the seat by a convincing margin. The Delimitation Commission had formed Varuna constituency after dissolving the Bannur constituency. Several parts of the erstwhile Bannur constituency are now part of Varuna, along with some areas of Mysore taluk (earlier with Chamundeshwari), Nanjangud taluk and T. Narsipur taluk. The Varuna constituency has over two lakh voters. Prior to that, in a hard-fought battle CM Siddaramaiah had won the Chamundeshwari seat with slim majority, which eventually changed his political fortunes. “Now that the CM is planning to contest from the Chamundeshwari constituency, Yathindra will make his entry into electoral politics by contesting from the Varuna Assembly segment. He has already held several village-level meetings in the constituency and has undertaken developmental works to woo the electorate. During his meetings, he has repeatedly requested the people of Varuna to bless him this time, signalling his intention to enter electoral politics,” the source added. Dr Yathindra, who stepped into the shoes of the Chief Minister's older son, Rakesh, after he passed away, is now seen as Siddaramaiah’s heir in electoral politics of Karnataka.