Karnataka polls: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar to lead separate bus tours

Leader of Opposition in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah and state Congress president DK Shivakumar will embark on separate bus tours from Friday (February 2), as part of the party’s Praja Dhwani Yatre ahead of assembly elections, after concluding the joint tour in the first phase.

Siddaramaiah and his team of 35 party leaders from Basavakalyan in Bidar district will tour the Assembly constituencies in the north Karnataka region, where he is popular.

He will first visit Anubhava Mantapa, where he is expected to pay respects to the statue of 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara before addressing a public meeting there.

During the yatre that will continue till February 18 and amid breaks by leaders to attend events and the assembly session, the Congress leader will cover assembly constituencies in the districts of Bidar, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Bagalkote, Hubballi, Dharwad, and Koppal.

Shivakumar, on the other hand, will tour the southern districts. He will undertake his bus yatra between February 3 and 9, heading a team of 54 party leaders. He will start his yatra in Mulbagal in Kolar district, after performing pooja at the famous Kurudumale Maha Ganapathi temple.

He will cover assembly segments in Kolar, Chitradurga, Bengaluru Rural and Shivamogga districts. Shivakumar hails from Vokkaliga community, which is a dominant community in several parts of southern districts.

Hitting the road in the poll-bound state, the Congress on January 11 had begun its first phase of state-wide Praja Dhwani Yatre from Belagavi.

As part of the bus yatra then, both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, who are nursing chief ministerial ambitions in the event of the Congress coming to power, traveled jointly until January 29.

(With inputs from agencies)