Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah was seen holding a lemon during a campaign.IBT Media

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah (Siddaramayya) and B Sriramulu have filed their nominations from the Badami constituency. The CM says that he is least bothered about Sriramulu and BS Yeddyurappa.

After Varuna, Badami is another most-talked about constituency from Karnataka assembly elections 2018. Soon after Congress announced Siddaramaiah as its candidate for Badami, rumours started doing rounds that BJP was contemplating on fielding B Sriramulu to pose a tough competition to the CM in this constituency.

Putting all the speculations to rest, Sriramulu visited Badami on Tuesday along with BS Yeddyurappa, Prakash Javdekar and Jagadish Shetter. ANI tweeted, "‏#Karnataka: BJP's B. Sriramulu files nomination from Badami. He will be contesting against Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah. #KarnatakaElections2018"

Hours after Sriramulu filed nomination, Siddaramaiah also meet Election offer P Rameshkumar in Badami and filed his nominations. Interestingly, the CM was accompanied by Badami MLA BB Chimmanakatti, who was hoping to contest elections again. The CM seems to have convinced the latter to give his seat to him.

Earlier in the morning, Siddaramaiah said that he is not bothered about his competitor. He added that the voters in the constituency would support him and bless him.

ANI tweeted, "‏I am least bothered by who will contest against me there (Badami). Whether it is Sriramalu or Yeddyurappa. I have faith in the voters, they will not leave me: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah #KarnatakaElections2018 (file pic)"

Both Siddaramaiah and Sriramulu have already filed nominations in Chamundeshwari (Mysore) and Molkalmuri (Chitradurga), respectively. Badami is the second constituency for them. The CM was reportedly not confident of winning elections from his constituency. Hence, he decided to contest in Badami, which has maximum number of voters (46,000) from his community - Kurubas.

Lingayat community has highest number of voters (55,000), who are expected to favor the BJP. On the other hand, Valmiki community has the third highest voters (36,000) in Badami. Since Sriramulu belongs to Valmiki community, the BJP thinks that his candidature will help them defeat Siddaramaiah.

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