Mandya (ANI): Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yatindra Siddaramaiah on Saturday expressed his wish to see his father become the CM again.

Speaking at Malavalli in the Mandya district, MLA Yatindra said, “Being a son I want to see my father becoming Karnataka CM once again. Of course, my father has said that he wants to become the Chief Minister again. He will take the state on the path of further development.”

“Siddaramaiah’s second constituency is still not finalized,” he added.

Former CM Siddaramaiah has expressed his intention to contest in Varuna and Kolar constituencies, but the constituencies are not finalized yet.

His statement has confirmed the ongoing tussle between Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar.

The leadership tussle between former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar is “pushing the party towards darkness”, said a senior leader of the party.

The fight for the chief ministerial post in the upcoming Assembly election in the state in May continues to deepen with the war of words flaring up from both the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar factions.

The war has put the senior Congress leaders in a spot of bother about the present shape of the party. According to most of the party leaders, infighting has already become a “nightmare” for many Congress leaders.

The BJP has marked its entry into the political crisis surrounding Congress as BJP state president Nalinkumar Kateel tweeted, “Party workers from @siddaramaiah and @DKShivakumar who have disturbed the sleep of many in their party due to the illusion of CM. Disillusioned. The people of the state know that the weak high command is unable to fix the internal conflict, and if power is given to him, conflict is guaranteed.”

Meanwhile, according to a Congress source, the second list of Congress candidates will also be released soon.

Soon after the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Wednesday alleged that the ruling BJP has made the election system corrupt and hoped that the Election Commission would conduct free and fair elections.

“BJP has made the election system corrupt. They have started “Operation Lotus”. They spend lots of money. The Election Commission should conduct the election in a free and fair manner. We hope they will do it,” Siddaramaiah said.

However, welcoming the Election Commission’s decision to hold a single-phase Assembly election in Karnataka on May 10, the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly said that his party was prepared for the polls.

“We had expected that the elections would be declared yesterday or today. I welcome that this election is happening in a single phase,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly polls.

“The notification for the elections to the 224-member Assembly would be issued on April 13 and that the last date for filing nomination papers would be April 20. The nomination papers would be scrutinised on April 21 and that last date for withdrawal of nominations would be April 24,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Wednesday while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.

The counting of votes will be done on May 13.