Bengaluru: With the remarks that he made at Kolar during his 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign being responsible for his recent conviction in a defamation suit and subsequent disqualification from the Lok Sabha, top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has decided to launch the party’s campaign for the Karnataka Assembly polls from Kolar itself.

With the Election Commission likely to announce poll schedule anytime in the first half of April, the Congress had begun preparations to launch its campaign from Mulbagal in Kolar district on Apr. 5, the place where Rahul allegedly made abusive and insulting  remarks targeting the Modi community, which ultimately resulted in filing of a defamation case against him at a Court in Surat, Gujarat and subsequent conviction and disqualification as MP from Waynad,  Kerala.

Meanwhile, as the Congress prepares to officially launch its Assembly poll campaign from Kolar, rumblings have started in Kolar Congress unit on why former Chief Minister Siddharamaiah has not yet been asked to contest from Kolar, which the former CM had hoped to contest from. The Congress has, however, announced the candidature of Siddharamaiah from Varuna, his home Constituency in Mysuru district. The Congress leaders of Kolar are of the opinion that Siddharamaiah’s contest from Kolar would rev up the party cadre which can result in enormous gains for the party in the neighbouring districts of Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru Rural.

The Kolar Congress leaders are particularly upset that their groundwork for launching Siddharamaiah from Kolar have gone to waste as the Congress High Command is uncertain on fielding the former CM from Kolar.  In this backdrop, the High Command is likely to ask Siddu to contest from Kolar along with Varuna in a bid to revive the fortunes of the Congress in Kolar and its neighbouring districts.