2018 polls will be my last election, says Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah had contested from Chamundeshwari constituency in 1983 and 2006  In the upcoming elections too, he announced that he would contest from the same Constituency He claimed that it was the party high command that asked him to contest again

Putting speculations about his next constituency to rest, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced that he would contest from Chamundeshwari constituency. The constituency had launched him in 1983 and also gave him a new lease of life in 2006. Siddaramaiah made this announcement at a convention of party workers at Hootagalli near Mysuru on Tuesday. Siddaramaiah said he did not want to contest the elections this time but High Command asked him to contest one more time. "This will be my last election," said Siddaramaiah.  

He explained that in 2008 Revanasiddaiah who worked with him during Chamundeshwari by-elections joined BJP and he had to contest from Varuna. Otherwise he would have contested from Chamundeshwari and allowed Revanasiddaiah contest from Varuna. “Even when my parents died I did not cry but when I had to leave Chamundeshwari I cried,” claimed Siddaramaiah.

In 1999, he lost at the same Chamundeshwari constituency not because of people but because of the trust he placed on his friends, he said. The chief minister appealed to the people to bless him and elect him at the next elections, too. 

Earlier speaking to newspersons at Mysuru airport Siddaramaiah had said he was going to Chamundeshwari as part of door-to door Congress campaign and had not decided about contesting from there. But at Chamundeshwari while addressing the party workers he announced that he would be contesting from there.