Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar figure in Cong’s first list

Bengaluru: Congress state unit President D K Shivakumar and Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, who are Chief Ministerial aspirants in the event of the party coming to power in Karnataka, are among the prominent leaders who figure in the first list of candidates for the Assembly polls, due by May, announced on Saturday.

While Shivakumar is as usual contesting from Kanakapura, Siddaramaiah is returning to his home turf of Varuna in Mysuru district, which is currently represented by his son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah.

Yathindra’s name does not figure for any other segment in the first list of 124 candidates.

Siddaramaiah who currently represents Badami in Bagalkote district, had earlier announced that he will be contesting from Kolar, but backtracked after party leadership reportedly cautioned him regarding the “risks” fighting from there. On Friday while confirming his candidacy from Varuna, the former CM had indicated about contesting from two seats, and the second seat has not been announced in the first list. Candidates have not been announced for the two seats which Siddarmaiah seems to have set his eye on- Kolar and Badami. The principal opposition party in the current Assembly, which is aiming to wrest power from the BJP, has announced candidates for 124 constituencies. Names are yet to be finalised for exactly 100 more seats. Karnataka has a total of 224 Assembly constituencies.

Congress has set a target of winning at least 150 seats in the 224-member Assembly. The Election Commission of India is expected to announce the poll schedule in the next few days.