By-poll test could decide Congress fate in 2018

The Siddaramaiah government in the state has completed four years

In April, Karnataka will see by-elections to two Assembly seats — Gundlupet and Chamarajanagar. Both seats were represented by the Congress in the last elections and have fallen vacant — Gundlupet due to the death of former minister Mahadeva Prasad, and Chamarajanagar after minister Srinivasa Prasad, a close confidante of chief minister Siddaramaiah, fell out with him, quit the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

This election battle sets the stage for 2018 when the state goes to the polls. The chief minister will also face a trial in his backyard: Where the two constituencies fall could decide whether