Karnataka elections: Will Congress pick veteran Siddaramaiah as next CM?

The sprightly Congress leader has an edge with his earlier experience as CM and is considered relatively more popular face of the party.

Sailing through several highs and lows, the veteran warhorse Siddaramaiah has made no secret of his ambition to become the next Karnataka chief minister, despite his announcement of retirement from electoral politics.

Congress party leader Siddaramaiah(AP)

The sprightly Congress leader has an edge with his earlier experience as CM and is considered relatively more popular face of the party and enjoys a mass support. Unlike DK Shivakumar, seen as his contender in the CM race, Siddaramaiah's political association was not based out of Congress from the beginning. Rooted in ‘Janata Pariwar’ for over two decades, the veteran politician was known for his strident anti-Congress stance.

After his administration in 2018, Siddaramaiah has emerged stronger, with his seniority, stature, and appeal to backward classes making him the biggest mass leader in the state.

Here are top points on Siddamaiah, top Karnataka CM contender:

1. Born on August 12, 1948 at Siddaramanahundi, a village in Mysuru district, Siddaramaiah graduated from Mysore University with B.Sc Degree and later studied Law from the same institution and pursued it as a profession for some time. Siddaramaiah led a successful five year term as Chief Minister of Congress government between 2013-18.
2. Leader of opposition in the last Karnataka assembly, a former chief minister and a two-time deputy chief minister – Siddaramaiah holds experience of a number of significant past portfolios.
3. He made his political debut in the assembly in 1983 when he got elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal Party ticket. He has won five times from this constituency and tasted defeat thrice.
4. He was earlier a stalwart of JD(S) and was widely seen as HD Deve Gowda's protege. He walked out of the party in 2005 over differences with Kumaraswamy, and joined Congress with is followers in 2006.
5. Hailed as a backward classes leader, he worked hard to rebuild the AHINDA coalition -- a grouping of Muslims, backward classes and Dalits- and, over the past few months, overseen a campaign that has seen the Muslims and communities coalesce around the Congress.
6. He has been talking about retirement forever. When he was sacked from JD(S) in 2005, he said he would take ‘political sanyas’, and an advocate by profession, always toyed with the idea of going back to practice law. Even in the run-up to this assembly election, he said, “This is going to be my last… will retire from electoral politics.”
7. Rustic in appearance at times, and not known to mince words, Siddaramaiah never hid his ambition to become chief minister and had repeatedly stressed on it unapologetically and unhesitatingly insisting that there is nothing wrong in aspiring for the post.
8. He also served as a finance minister and has a distinction of presenting as many as 13 state budgets.
9. He was the first chairman of the watchdog committee – Kannada Kavalu Samiti – responsible for supervising the implementation of Kannada as official language formed during Ramakrishna Hegde's chief ministership.
10. He lost the 2018 assembly elections after the decision to accord ‘religious minority’ status to the dominant Lingayat community.

(With PTI inputs)