“It becomes inevitable for me to contest the ensuing bye-election for Channapatna assembly seat (Ramnagar district) if voters and party leaders decide on my candidature,” said Deputy Chief Minister and president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday.
Channapatna assembly seat will go face by-election following the resignation of former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy as Janata Dal Secular MLA, a couple days back.
Kumaraswamy was elected from Channapatna in the 2023 election and contested the Mandya Lok Sabha seat as JDS-Bharatiya Janata Party consensus nominee in 2024. He won the Lok Sabha election and resigned to the post of MLA. Responding to queries from reporters in Bengaluru, Shivakumar stated that the party has not yet decided on the nominee to contest Channapatna by-poll but said that “Channapatna is in my heart.
” Speculations are rife that Shivakumar would switch to Channapatna from Kanakapura assembly seat and in case of his win in Channapatna, he would make way for his brother D.K. Suresh to contest from Kanakapura.
Suresh, a three time Lok Sabha candidate, lost to BJP’s C.N. Manjunath in the recent Lok Sabha election.
Sources told Deccan Chronicle that Shivakumar's possible contest from Channapatna is aimed to regain the lost ground and the last victory of the Congress party was in 2008. They added that there is no other candidate better than Shivakumar to contest Channapatna by-poll. Continuing, he said, “Earlier a.