As part of his five-day camp in the region, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held marathon closed-door meetings with his confidants and leaders from Varuna and Chamundeshwari Assembly constituencies at a private resort, under Bandipur National Park limits, in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district, on Thursday night and Friday.
Siddaramaiah entered the resort, under the guise of spending time with his family members, on Thursday night. However, except his son Dr Yathindra, no family member was found in the resort. The meetings are supposed to chalk out strategies to woo the Vokkaliga voters of Chamundeshwari constituency, where the CM wants to contest, and to woo Lingayat voters in the Varuna constituency, from where Dr Yathindra would be fielded.
All his confidants in the two constituencies were summoned on Thursday night itself. The meeting is said to have prolonged late into the night. Siddaramaiah is expected to be in the resort up to Saturday night. However, he would tour the villages under these two constituencies during the day and return to the resort during the night.
According to sources, the presidents of Chamundeshwari and Varuna block Congress units and prominent leaders of various communities and sections have been involved in formulating the strategy. Plans have been chalked out to split the votes of the BJP and the JD(S).
By 9.30 am on Friday, Command Area Development Authority Chairman H S Nanjappa arrived at the resort. However, the security personnel did not allow him to enter. He had to wait for over an hour. Finally, the CM summoned him through the security personnel.
Similarly, PWD Minister H C Mahadevappa, MLAs K Venkatesh and Puttarangashetty and ex-president of Zilla Panchayat K Marigowda were made to wait for sometime. Later, they entered the resort and returned in the afternoon. The CM's lieutenant, MLA and Chairman of the Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation, M K Somasekhar had to return without meeting Siddaramaiah.
According to the sources in the resort, three rooms have been booked in the CM's name, however, the resort was entirely closed for guests. "The mobile phones of all the staff of the resort have been secured. Precautionary measures have been taken against clicking of photos and shooting of videos. All food and beverages are supplied to the rooms. On Friday, up to 7 pm, the CM did not come out of his room," said sources.
"As this is weekend, our resort would have received full occupation. However, due to the presence of the VIPs, no guests are entertained," they said.
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