Varuna: The place became an assembly segment only in 2008 following delimitation of constituencies, but it soon went on to become one of the most watched segments because of the legislator who represents it. Home turf of chief minister Siddaramaiah himself, Varuna shot to fame because the CM left Chamundeshwari, a constituency that he contested seven elections between 1983-2008 to embrace this new constituency.

Now Varuna- a constituency on outskirts of Royal City of Mysuru is a cynosure. If political insiders of the Congress and the BJP are to be believed then CM Siddaramaiah and former chief minister and BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa are vying to field their sons from the very same Varuna constituency.

While the CM is all set to shift his own base to Chamundeshwari, leaving Varuna for his son Yatheendra, it is said that BSY is keen on fielding his son Vijayendra from Varuna against Yatheendra.

Mysuru district as a whole is being treated with great importance by the BJP. The good number of visits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National Chief Amit Shah are the proofs for Mysuru being important to the BJP. Winning in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s home turf can have many advantages for the BJP and the party understands it well.

But, there are hurdles to clear. BJP is desperate to make a mark in the region, which rejected it during the 2013 elections. The party does not have many winnable candidates in the old Mysuru region, which has dominance of the Congress and the JD(S). Hence fielding Vijayendra looks like a better deal for the BJP. The BJP may also have fair chance this time in the region which has sizable Veerashaiva population, which has been raged by the Siddaramaiah government for according religious tag to Lingayat community.

According to locals, there are around 60,000 Veerashaivas, 40,000 Nayaka STs, 15,000 Kurubas, 10,000 Vokkaligas and over 50,000 Dalit voters in Varuna. The BJP hopes that most Veerashaivas would back the party and divide SC/ ST votes.

To talk about Vijayendra, though not in active politics, he is a braintruster of the party as per sources, which means, he has interest
in politics and may also be acquainted to the ground that he was stepping on.On the other hand, Yatheendra, a medical professional has neither been interested in politics nor did he make public appearances till death of his older brother Rakesh, who was considered CM’s heir apparent.

But, many say that Yatheendra still has an upper hand in Varuna because he hails from the district and over one year he has built rapport with the local voters as well as the party workers. Vijayendra on the hand hails from Shivamogga and Bengaluru has been his home over the last 10 years. Varuna will be a new place to start his political innings.

While either CM or BSY have confirmed about their sons contesting from Varuna, block BJP of Varuna has reportedly submitted a letter to Amit Shah requesting him to field Vijayendra from the constituency.