Long journey from Siddaramana Hundi to Vidhana Soudha

Bengaluru: Siddaramaiah is ready to take over as the 24th Chief Minister of the state. The swearing in ceremony will be held at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on May 20 at 12.30 pm and D.K. Shivakumar will take over as the Deputy Chief Minister. Siddaramaiah who was grazing sheep during child hood has grown to the height of being the top elected representative of the state. He has successfully presented 13 financial budgets so far and is ready to present the 14th budget. As per the tradition, a new budget has to be presented soon after Chief Minister assumes office.

Born on August 12, 1948 in Siddharamanahundi, Varuna Hobli, Mysore, Siddaramaiah did not go to school until his tenth year. He got admission in the school directly to the fifth standard and studied from then on. He completed his primary, secondary and high school education in his hometown, PUC and , BSc in Yuvaraja College Mysore.

Later, he obtained his law degree from Mysore University, worked as a junior with Chikkaboraiya, a senior lawyer, and then practiced as an independent lawyer till 1978. Siddaramaiah’s parents wanted their son to become a doctor. However, he only chose the profession of lawyer. Siddaramaiah, 75 years old, who has spent a long 45 years of political life, had planned a convention called Siddaramotsava in Davangere on the occasion of his birthday on August 3 last year. More than 10 lakh people participated in the convention there. This clearly showed Siddaramaiah’s power.

In particular, his father Siddarama Gowda opposed his entry into politics. Because Siddarama Gowda, who had contested and lost in the Gram Panchayat elections, was not interested in politics. He was upset that people would defeat his son. Siddaramaiah, who was influenced by Ram Manohar Lohia’s struggle, showed interest in politics.

Farmer activist Prof. Nanjundaswamy was an ideal leader for him. As a professor, he taught Siddaramaiah and brought him to the path of struggle. Siddaramaiah, who was working as a lawyer, was forced by Bharatiya Lok Dal to contest from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysore in the 1983 state elections. Before this, Siddaramaiah, who contested the election once and lost had decided to stay away from politics. But Nanjundaswamy’s insistence turned his life around. When he joined the Janata Party from the Bharatiya Lok Dal, he was appointed as the president of the newly formed Kannada Kavalu Samiti. He travelled to border areas like Kasaragod, Belagavi, Kolar etc. and submitted a report.

In 1985, Siddaramaiah, who won again from Chamundeshwari constituency, was appointed as Animal Husbandry Minister in the Ramakrishna Hegde Cabinet. After the cabinet reshuffle, he also served as the Minister of Silk and Transport. Siddaramaiah, who lost the election in the 1989 Congress wave, joined the Janata Dal when the Janata Party disintegrated.

When Deve Gowda joined the Janata Dal from the Samajwadi Janata Party in 1992, he became the secretary of the Janata Dal. He won the 1994 election and became the finance minister in Deve Gowda’s cabinet. In 1996, J.H. Patel became Deputy Chief Minister in the government. When the Janata Dal split into two during the 1999 elections, he became the president of the secular Janata Dal along with Deve Gowda.

He was defeated in the 1999 elections. But the struggle did not stop. By 2004, he was projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the secular Janata Dal. When the independent assembly was formed in 2004, he became the deputy chief minister and finance minister for the second time when the government was formed with the Congress.

He contested and won the December 2006 by-election. In 2008, Siddaramaiah joined the party organization after contesting from Varuna constituency from the Congress party. In 2013, he won and became the Chief Minister from the Congress party. On May 10, 2013, he was sworn in as the leader of the Congress Legislative Party and on May 13 as the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka.

In 1996 Siddaramaiah lost the chief ministership because J H Patel had the support of most of the MLAs. After this, in 2004, when the government was formed, N. Dharam Singh became the CM and the position of CM was missed by him. Now Siddaramaiah, who was the CM once in 2013, is all set to become the CM for the second time.

As Chief Minister, he made schemes like Anna bhagya, Shadi bhagya, Ksheera bhagya and gave free bus pass to dalit students. He contested from Chamundeshwari and Badami in two constituencies in the 2018 assembly elections. Among them, he lost in Chamundeshwari and won in Badami by a small margin.

While he was in the coordination committee in the Congress-JDS alliance government, he also worked as the opposition leader for four years during the BJP government. Siddaramaiah, who became the CM for five years between 2013-18 after Devaraja Urs , who was the leader of the backward classes, is now all set to take charge as the CM again.