Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the Chief Minister of Karnataka from 2013 to 2018. He is currently the leader of the Indian National Congress, before which he was a member of several Janata Parivar parties. As a member of the Janata Dal (Secular), he has also been Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka twice. He was the former Chief Minister of Karnataka who held office since 2013 while in Congress. Siddaramaiah started his political career in the Socialist Yuvjana Sabha of Professor Nanjunda Swamy, a lawyer by profession. He worked as a junior lawyer until 1978. He held various positions in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. He is an important political leader of the Indian National Congress. Prior to this he served as a politician for the JDS and on two occasions became Deputy Chief Minister for the state. He is the leader of the Kuruba community. Siddaramaiah was expelled as JD (S) in 2005-06 after differences with HD Deve Gowda. Subsequently after joining the Indian National Congress, he is currently the Chairman of the Coordination Committee which coordinates the Congress-JDS coalition government.

Siddaramaiah was born on August 12, 1948, into a farming family in the village of Siddaramanahundi in Mysore district. He had no formal education until the age of 10. He did his Bachelor of Science from the University of Mysore and then studied law from this University. His father's name is Siddaram Gowda and his mother's name is Borama Gowda. His wife's name is Parvati. They have two sons, Rakesh and Yatindra. Rakesh has done a few roles in films and helps his father. At the same time, Yatindra is a doctor. Siddaramaiah is an atheist. He took the oath of Chief Minister in the name of 'truth' rather than 'God'.

Siddaramaiah initially learned advocacy in Mysore as a junior to Chikkaboraiya. Later he also taught law for some time. Siddaramaiah, who had been a member of the Janata Parivar for nearly two and a half decades, was known to be fiercely anti-Congress, but the direction of political ups and downs changed so much that today he became the Chief Minister of the Congress government in Karnataka.

Siddaramaiah's parents wanted him to become a doctor but decided to become a lawyer. But he accidentally got into politics. It is his desire to see a hunger-free Karnataka. For this reason, he built Indira Canteen while Chief Minister. In 2018, he presented his 13th state budget, setting a record. In 2010, Siddaramaiah traveled to Bengaluru in the 320 km Padayat (Ballari Chalo) against Bengaluru to Reddy Brothers. This is a major event in Karnataka politics. This Ballari Chalo is targeting the ruling BJP on illegal mining and corruption.

Siddaramaiah was elected as a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Chamundeshwari constituency in 1983, beginning his political career. He contested on the ticket of the Indian Lok Dal. 1985 Siddaramaiah contested mid-term elections and was re-elected from the same constituency. During this time he became the Minister of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services. In 1994, he was re-elected as a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. This time he was appointed as the Finance Minister. 1996 He became the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka State during the reign of former Chief Minister JH Patel. He joined the Indian National Congress in 2005 after being expelled from the JDS. He won the Chamundeshwari by-election held in December 2006. In 2008, he was elected as a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Varun constituency.

In 2013, Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka. He served in this post till 2018. He was the first Chief Minister of the state to complete his five-year term after 1977. In 2018, he again won the assembly elections from Varun constituency and became an MLA.

Political introduction

Siddaramaiah, belonging to a poor peasant family, was a staunch opponent of the Congress from the 1980s to 2005, but his ouster from former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (S) brought him to a political crossroads, after which he joined the Congress and then became the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka. He did not complete even 7 years in the Congress that his life-long ambitions were fulfilled when he took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

The Congress and JD (S) formed a coalition government in 2004 after receiving a fractured mandate. Siddaramaiah was then in JD (S) and was made deputy chief minister. N. Dharam Singh of Congress got the post of Chief Minister. Siddaramaiah complained that he had a chance to become the chief minister, but Dev Gowda did not let this happen.

In 2005, he introduced himself as the leader of the backward classes. They come from the Kuruba community, which is the third largest number caste in Karnataka, but around the same time, HD Kumaraswamy, son of Dev Gowda, was seen as a rising star of the party and Siddaramaiah was also sacked from the JD (S). Regarding Siddaramaiah, who was once the president of the JD (S) state unit, party critics said that Deve Gowda now wanted Kumaraswamy to take over as the party's leader, so Siddaramaiah was dismissed.

Siddaramaiah, a lawyer by profession, then said that he wanted to re-advocate after taking retirement from politics. He refused to form a regional party, saying he could not raise money. Both the Congress and the BJP tried to call him. Siddaramaiah said that he does not agree with the BJP's ideology. In 2006, he joined the Congress along with his supporters. Siddaramaiah, never hid his ambition to become the chief minister. Apart from the year 2004, in 1996 also the Chief Minister's post had gone away on sight.

Siddaramaiah became finance minister during the tenure of both Deve Gowda and JH Patel and presented the state budget seven times. Siddaramaiah, who emerged as the leader of the public, defeated the senior Congress leader and Union Labor and Employment Minister M Mallikarjun in a straight fight for the post of Chief Minister in the Congress Legislature Party meeting. Siddaramaiah, who was the 'product' of the Janata Parivar, was so impressed by the socialism of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia that he left the practice of advocacy and entered politics.

In 1983, he was elected from the Chamundeshwari assembly seat in Mysore on a Lok Dal party ticket and later joined the ruling predecessor Janata Party. He was the first chairman of the 'Kannada Kavalu Committee'. This committee was formed to oversee the implementation of Kannada as the official language during the Chief Ministership of Ramakrishna Hegde. Later Siddaramaiah got the post of sericulture minister.

He was re-elected in the midterm elections held two years later and was became Minister of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine in the Hegde government. Siddaramaiah lost the 1989 and 1999 assembly elections. In the year 2008, he was elected as the Chairman of the Promotion Committee of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. He again won the election in 2013 from the same constituency and was elected as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on 10 May 2013. However, he had already announced that the 2013 assembly election would be his last.

Personality

Siddaramaiah took the oath of Chief Minister in the name of 'truth' rather than 'God'. He is the Chief Minister of Karnataka, of course from the Congress party but in the eyes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi he holds a special place. Prime Minister Modi had invited Karnataka CM to woo investors in his upcoming China tour but Siddaramaiah declined it citing prior engagements. He is compared to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in terms of work in the state. In August 2013, Karnataka Minister MH Ambareesh said that "Our Siddaramaiah is the Narendra Modi of Congress. Within three months, he started the development work in the state."