Siddaramaiah loyalists get ticket from KR, Chamaraja

Mysuru: After shilly-shallying for more than 10 days to announce candidates in Krishnaraja and Chamaraja assembly segments in Mysuru city, the Congress has given tickets to former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s aides –MK Somashekar and K Harish Gowda – to contest from these segments.
Former MLA Vasu was aspiring for the Congress ticket but has been denied a ticket by the party. Vasu's son recently joined the BJP and is contesting from Chamundeshwari and sources say this may have gone against him from getting a ticket.


K Harish Gowda had contested as an independent candidate in the 2018 election and had secured more than 20k votes. He is Congress's new face in Chamaraja segment.
In the 2018 elections, Harish Gowda, who contested as a JD(S) rebel, had secured 21,282 votes (15.14 % of the total polled votes). He will face BJP’s sitting MLA L Nagendra this time. JD(S) is yet to announce its candidate in Chamaraja .
Siddaramaiah prevailed upon the party's high command to give a ticket to his aide MK Somashekar, who will be contesting from Krishnaraja for the sixth time. M Pradeep Kumar, a Congress aspirant and a lingayat leader was aspiring for the ticket in the segment. Veerashaiva Mahasabha leaders too had demanded Congress to field a Lingayath candidate as the community members are second decisive in the segment.
MK Somashekar had lost to BJP’s SA Ramadas, a Brahmin, by a margin of 26k votes in 2018. BJP is yet to announce its candidate for the segment. There is strong opposition from a section of voters not to field the incumbent MLA. Brahmin association members have demanded the parties to give the opportunity to a new leader from their community.
In Mandya, the Congress has denied ticket to a family member of former chief minister SM Krishna at Maddur constituency. Instead, it has fielded KM Uday. KM Uday joined the Congress recently. SM Krishna’s nephew Gurucharan was a contender for the Congress ticket.