BENGALURU: As Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is all set to equal the record of former CM late D Devaraj Urs as the longest-serving CM on Tuesday, it is a big milestone for him personally and for the state.
Though Siddaramaiah and Urs are seen as most prominent leaders who contributed to the uplift of oppressed communities, political analysts say the latter’s achievements were more remarkable as he executed the land reforms and also established the first state-level backward classes commission headed by LG Havanur. While Urs could pick new faces from humble backgrounds, Siddaramaiah has not been able to do so because of constraints under the current situation.
But Siddaramaiah can be termed the torchbearer of Urs’ legacy as he has effectively implemented the right for food (Anna Bhagya), the five guarantees and also commissioned the socio, educational and economic survey to give social justice to all communities, said senior Congress leader HM Revanna.
On the political front, some call his rise to the top post mere “luck”, but one should not forget his persuasive skills and Machiavellian moves that made him stake claim to power and retain it, political analysts pointed out.
He learnt early to stick to state politics, reaped rich dividends
Siddaramaiah is arguably one of the most-successful politicians in the state. He has served as deputy chief minister and leader of opposition twice in his long political career. The nine-time MLA, who lost two Lok Sabha elections, learnt early to stick to state politics that have earned him hefty dividends.
Starting his career in electoral politics as an independent on the advice of Raitha Sangha leader Prof MD Nanjundaswamy, he tasted success in his debut polls, winning the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency in 1983. He was supported by the Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD) that had been floated by Chaudhary Charan Singh, former prime minister. Siddaramaiah, who has high regards for Charan Singh, claims to belong to the socialist Ram Manohar Lohia school of thought.
From that beginning, Siddaramaiah, who is now 77 years old, went on to change parties to suit his ambitions. When the Congress-JDS coalition formed the government in 2004, late N Dharam Singh became chief minister. Siddaramaiah, who was with JDS then and longed to become CM, was stymied by JDS patriarch HD Deve Gowda. He revolted and organised a rally of AHINDA, Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits, communities in Hubballi with the mentoring and backing of veteran leader late RL Jalappa and others.
With Siddaramaiah now turning a rebel and ignoring the party diktats, Gowda got him expelled from JDS in 2005. That turned out to be a significant turning point in Siddaramaiah’s political career as he joined Congress and won the Chamundeshwari bypolls in a cliffhanger winning by a wafer-thin margin of 257 votes. Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, who reportedly ‘sacrificed’ his leader of opposition post to Siddaramaiah, took the bypoll seriously and ensured the latter’s victory to get the Grand Old Party the socialist touch, which it was lacking in the state then.
Siddaramaiah never looked back after that. AHINDA communities, including Kurubas -- to which he belongs -- groomed him to be a strong leader. The padayatra from Bengaluru to Ballari against Gali Janardhana Reddy and Co. ahead of the 2013 Assembly polls over illegal mining made him an undisputed choice for the party high command for the chief minister’s post.
Even now, with DCM DK Shivakumar staking claim for the top post by referring to a supposed pact over sharing of power, Siddaramaiah’s trump card is AHINDA. Having conquered opposition parties with this community base, he is also banking on it to fight his adversaries within the party, trying to persuade the party high command about its importance in the coming 2028 Assembly and 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Going back in time, though Gowda had stopped him in his tracks, it was the same Gowda who was responsible for Siddaramaiah’s other record, of presenting the highest number of budgets in the state. Gowda, who was CM in the Janata Dal government in 1994, had made Siddaramaiah the finance minister and that was the first budget he presented. He has gone on to present 16 budgets, while he will be reading out the financial document the 17th time if he does so in March this year.