Siddaramaiah says he'll contest 2023 Karnataka elections, forgets '2018 my last' claim

Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah broke silence over his future in electoral politics and revealed on Monday that he would be contesting the next Assembly elections in the state. Speaking at the Legislative Assembly on Monday, Siddaramaiah said that he would contest in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections from the Badami constituency. The senior Congress leader made the statement while responding to Revenue Minister R Ashoka, claiming that he will not run away and that there were no doubts about participating in the next elections. 

Earlier, the former Karnataka CM had said that the 2018 Assembly elections would be his last after which he was set to hang his boots. Siddaramiah lost from the Chamundeshwari constituency in 2018 to JD(S) leader GT Deve Gowda but won from the Badami constituency, even as his government wasn't able to come to power by itself, joining hands with JDS as the second and third largest parties formed a shortlived government. Siddaramiah's remarks came amid his speech on the Karnataka budget after the Speaker asked him to talk his mind. 

The collapse of JD(S)-Congress government

While BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election, Yediyurappa had to resign merely two days after taking oath as the CM owing to his party's inability to muster a majority in the state Assembly. Kumaraswamy was sworn-in as the CM on May 23, 2018, after JD(S) and Congress stitched a post-poll alliance. The infighting within the alliance intensified after BJP swept Karnataka in the 2019 General Election by winning 25 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats. The crisis for the coalition government commenced on July 6, 2019, when 12 legislators submitted their resignations to the Karnataka Speaker's office.

Soon, the number of rebel MLAs swelled to 17 which led to Governor Vajubhai Vala asking the government to prove its majority on the floor of the House. As a three-judge Supreme Court bench refused to compel the rebel MLAs to attend the Assembly proceedings, the JD(S)-Congress government lost the trust vote on July 23, 2019. Speaking to the media on December 5, 2020, Kumaraswamy contended that he fell into a trap by agreeing to form the government with Congress after the 2018 Karnataka poll verdict. According to him, he could have retained the Chief Minister's post even now if JD(S) allied with BJP. Moreover, he accused former CM and Congress' Siddaramaiah of conspiring against him.

Image credits: PTI