Siddaramaiah wants Rahul Gandhi to contest from Karnataka too

NEW DELHI: Congress leaders in Karnataka, including former chief minister Siddaramaiah, have asked party president Rahul Gandhi to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls from the southern state.

Calling Gandhi the "next Prime Minister of India", the Congress Legislature Party leader recalled his grandmother Indira Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Karnataka in the past.

"Karnataka has always supported & encouraged @INCIndia leaders. It has been proved in case of Smt. Indira ji & Smt. Sonia ji.


We also want our next Prime Minister of India Shri. @RahulGandhi to contest from Karnataka & herald new developmental paradigm.

#RaGaFromKarnataka," Siddaramaiah said in a tweet on Friday.

While Indira Gandhi had scripted her political comeback from Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka by winning the Lok Sabha bypolls in 1978, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi had contested and won from Ballari in 1999, trouncing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sushma Swaraj.

Interestingly, the Congress has ceded the Chikkamagaluru seat to its alliance partner Janata Dal (Secular) this time, while Ballari remains with the grand old party.

Siddaramaiah's tweet came amid an IANS report that Gandhi may contest from one of the seats in south India following pressure from within the Congress.

The Congress had, earlier this month, announced that the party chief would contest from Amethi and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli, both traditional strongholds of the party in Uttar Pradesh.

( With PTI inputs)