Badami, Apr 24: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday filed nomination from Badami constituency in Bagalkot district. Siddaramaiah was accompanied by Congress leaders S R Patil, C M Ibrahim and ministers R B Thimmapur, Umashree and sitting MLA B B Chimmanakatti while filing the papers.
Siddaramaiah is contesting the upcoming elections from two seats - Badami and Chamundeshwari. On April 20, he had filed his nomination papers from Chamundeshwari constituency.
Meanwhile Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate B. Sriramulu filed his nomination from Badami against Siddaramaiah. BJP state chief Yeddyurappa, party leaders Jagadish Shettar, Prakash Javadekar and Muralidhar Rao were with Sriramulu at the time of filing the papers.
Workers from both Congress and BJP flooded Badami's streets, marching to drum beats. On one side in this election is Siddaramaiah, who thought Badami to be a safe bet given the huge population of his community, the Kurubas and other Ahinda groups. On the other is Sriramulu, banking on the votes of dalits (to which he belongs) and the Lingayats, the latter being BJP's traditional vote bank.
The BJP has tried to paint Siddaramaiah's choice of Badami as an insurance in the event of a possible loss in his home turf Chamundeshwari. The chief minister has sought to nullify the criticism by asking whether it was the fear of defeat in Vadodara that prompted Narendra Modi to contest from Varanasi too in the 2014 prime ministerial bid.
He claims he is only responding to the love and affection shown by people in North Karnataka, by opting for one of the segments there.
When Sriramulu filed his papers, two other BJP ticket aspirants M K Pattanashetti and Mahantesh Mamadapur too submitted their nominations, leaving room for a change of candidate if needed till the last date for withdrawal on April 27.
Yeddyurappa said goddess Banashankari, Badami's presiding deity, too will not bless the chief minister. The elections in the state will held on May 12 and result will be out on May 15.
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