Siddu eyes Chiru route to power

Siddaramaiah will address a political rally in Hyderabad tomorrow.

Siddu eyes Chiru route to power

Siddaramaiah will address a political rally in Hyderabad tomorrow. He will share dias with Telugu star Chiranjeevi.
Siddaramaiah will speak in Kannada and it will be translated into Telugu by local film actor Srikant.u00a0

Srikant, who had played Circuit to Chiranjeevi in the Telugu version of Munnabhai, is a Kannadiga from Bellary.

Srikant was not only the megastar's sidekick in a film, he is also known to be a close associate of Chiranjeevi in real life.

"Siddaramaiah will inaugurate a Kuruba convention where a huge turnout of two lakh people is expected," said B Shivanna, a confidante of Siddaramaiah. "Chiranjeevi will be the chief guest and the two leaders will show their solidarity publicly."

Sidelined

Siddaramaiah has been a disgruntled element in the Congress since he was sidelined. He is mulling a political alliance with Chiranjeevi, who recently launched his political party Prajarajyam, with concerns for the backward class serving as a common factor between the two.

"There are 17 lakh Kurubas in Andhra Pradesh. The Siddaramaiah factor will help Chiranjeevi to lure the community, while Chiranjeevi's fan following in the Karnataka- Andhra border area will come in handy for Siddaramaiah in Karnataka," said Shivanna.

Future plans

Siddaramaiah and Chiranjeevi will discuss the future plan after the rally. The star is likely to support Karnataka's former deputy chief minister in the upcoming parliamentary elections if the latter floats his own political outfit.u00a0

Chiranjeevi will participate in an AHINDA rally to be organised by Siddramaiah at Davanagere in the near future.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah had planned to lead a Karnataka unit of Prajarajyam, but he changed his mind, as his supporters had urged him to launch a separate party to retain his identity. He is likely to launch his Karnataka Janata Dal party prior to the Lok Sabha polls, according to sources close to him.u00a0

A jittery Congress is reportedly trying for a rapproachment with Siddaramaiah. While Siddu is firm about becoming the opposition leader in the assembly, the party high command has reportedly failed in getting Mallikarjuna Kharge to quit his post. Kharge was asked to run for the Lok Sabha polls, which he flatly refused, it is learnt.

Now the high command is left to choose between making Siddaramaiah KPCC president pushing the incumbent R V Deshpande aside. However, Siddaramaiah is said to have issued an ultimatum and the high command had to decide on the issue within the end of this month.

"Siddaramaiah will wait till the deadline. Congress has to make him the opposition leader within the deadline, otherwise he is bound to launch the new party," said a source close to Siddaramaiah.