Lingayat strongman BSY starts campaigning for son B Y Viyendra, even as party yet to release a list

As Karnataka gears up full swing  for an ‘evenly matched’ political contest between the political rivals, former BJP Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa indicated that his son  B Y Vijayendra may be fielded against Congress strongman and former state CM Siddaramaiah from Varuna constituency for the May 10 Assembly polls.

Congress and JD(S) have announced their first list of candidates even before the elections were announced and  Chief Minister Basavraj Bommain have announced that the BJP would release its list “soon” within a week’s time.

The 80-year-old Lingayat caste leader Yediyurappa showed signals that his son Vijayendra who is also state Vice-President may be fielded against the opposition leader Siddaramaiah from Varuna assembly constituency in Mysuru, southern Karnataka.

When asked whether Vijayendra would be fielded from Varuna, Yediyurappa said, “Discussions are going on. Siddaramaiah knows that his ground is slipping away. I don’t think it is so easy for him. We will field a good candidate. We will give a tough fight. Let’s see what happens.”

The BJP veteran and four-time Chief Minister said the decision on whether to give the Varuna ticket to Vijayendra, who is the state BJP vice-president, would be left to the party’s central leadership.

On his part,  Siddaramaiah told  newspersons  that he was not bothered about the candidate who would contest against him with Congress state president D K Shivakumar  quipping  that his party  would welcome it if Yediyurappa himself decided to contest from Varuna.