Siddaramaiah vs Somanna in Varuna promises to be mouthwatering clash

Just five months back, it looked like former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah would win in his home constituency Varuna without breaking a sweat. But that’s not the case now. With Housing Minister V Somanna entering the fray and the BJP biggies visiting the length and breadth of the constituency, the contest between two leaders with Janata Parivar roots promises to be a mouthwatering clash.

Siddaramaiah, who used to tell his supporters that he would not visit the constituency after filing his nomination papers, as he has a bigger responsibility to ensure the victory of the Congress candidates across the state, is feeling the heat. He has already spent four days in April third week in the constituency, playing emotional cards like repeating that it is his last election and also introducing his grandson, Dhawan Rakesh.

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Siddaramaiah is expected to tour Varuna, campaigning for himself, for a couple or more days towards the end of public campaigning.

Initially, when Somanna was declared as BJP candidate in Varuna, besides his choice of Chamarajanagar, it was perceived that Somanna was being made into a scapegoat, as he is an outsider.

However, the scenario changed with a few more factors like the contest of former BJP MLA of T Narsipur Dr Bharathi Shankar, a SC leader, as JD(S) candidate and the entry of BSP state president M Krishnamurthy. Somanna seems to be more confident as Shankar and Krishnamurthy are expected to divide votes of the SC communities.

Since the formation of Varuna constituency (out of Chamundeshwari segment) in 2008, Siddaramaiah has represented it twice, while his son Dr Yathindra is the MLA at present. Siddaramaiah contested from Chamundeshwari and Badami in 2018, allowing Dr Yathindra to contest Varuna. Siddaramaiah lost to G T Devegowda of the JD(S), with a huge margin of 36,042 votes in Chamundeshwari. In Badami, Siddaramaiah won with a narrow margin of 1,696 votes, against BJP’s B Sriramulu.

It has to be noted that Siddaramaiah, who has contested eight elections in Chamundeshwari won five of them - 1983, 1985, 1994, 2004 and 2006. He lost in 1989, 1999 and 2018. The 2006 bypolls was a tough one, against a political novice Shivabasappa of the JD(S), supported by the BJP. He won with a wafer-thin margin of 257 votes.

The winning margin of Dr Yathindra was 58,616 votes in 2018 and thus the Congress is under pressure to increase the margin, to match the reputation of Siddaramaiah. The Congress candidate has claimed that he would win with a margin of over one lakh votes. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the lead for Congress candidate, the late R Dhruvanarayan, was just 9,000 votes.

Compared to the neighbouring Chamundeshwari segment, dominated by Vokkaligas, the BJP and the erstwhile KJP have polled better vote share in Varuna, where Veerashaiva-Lingayats form an influential group. More ministers and leaders of both Congress and BJP are expected to campaign for their respective candidates till the end. However, Siddaramaiah has an advantage of being a native of the segment and can connect with his voters directly. He also has the advantage of staying in his segment, during the last 48 hours before polling, as he is a native and also voter of Siddaramana Hundi.

Dr Yathindra has earned the goodwill of the people in the segment, while Somanna has to depend on party and caste factors.

The effects of the announcement of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to create Varuna taluk, if voted to power, is yet to be seen. There was no such demand from anybody, so far. However, some voters realise that it is a fair idea, as the constituency is spread over Mysuru, Nanjangud and T Narsipur taluks.