Siddaramaiah shows off dance skills at his village in Mysuru

A video of Former CM Siddaramaiah performing a folk dance at his native village of Siddaramana Hundi in Mysuru, is being widely shared.

A recent video of Congress leader Siddaramaiah has been making the rounds, in which the Opposition leader in the Karnataka Assembly, often seen as a fierce legislator, is performing a folk dance at his native village of Siddaramana Hundi in Mysuru.

Former CM Siddaramaiah performing a folk dance at his native village of Siddaramana Hundi in Mysuru.

Siddaramaiah's less known side is that of a the folk artist. He reportedly learnt the art in his childhood.

See the full video here, shared by Siddaramaiah's son and Congress MLA Yathidra Siddaramaiah on Twitter where he can be seen performing a choreographed folk dance along with a group of men who are his childhood friends.

The video was shot on the night of Thursday, March 24, when the legislator had gone to his hometown for the annual ‘jaathre’ or festival. The video also shows them and others singing at the jaathre, while a massive crowd has gathered around the group, along with Siddaramaiah’s security detail, watching the performance unfold.

In Wednesday's Assembly session, Siddaramaiah spoke of his heritage proudly, making a connection between his name and his roots, saying, “The three-day jaathre in my village is called Siddarameshwara festival, my father’s name is Siddaramegowda, and my family deity is Siddarameshwara.”

He was responding to MLA and Minister of Water and Irrigation J.C. Madhuswamy. Siddaramaiah has spoken about his roots in the past as well, saying he used to be a folk artist, and recounting how he used to be part of a dance troupe that would perform the ‘Janapada Kunitha’ folk dance.

Going down the memory lane, he also said that his parents had never gone to school, and his father had admitted him to Veera Makkala Kunitha instead, a folk dance troupe in his village Siddaramana Hundi.

The former CM has mentioned this in his past interviews as well that his parents did not encourage him to have a formal education and wanted him to focus more on learning arts instead. However, he recounted in the legislative assembly that it was one of his dance teachers who taught him to read and write in Kannada.

He was taught the Kannada lipi on sand instead of a slate. “In two years, he taught me the alphabet, grammar and much more. It is something I can never forget,’’ Siddaramaiah has told a news website.