35 Facts About Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah held that position previously from 2013 to 2018, being only the second person in the history of Karnataka state to hold that office for a full five-year term after D Devaraj Urs.

Siddaramaiah belongs to the Indian National Congress and is presently the leader of the Congress Legislative Party.

Siddaramaiah represented the Varuna Assembly constituency from 2023, previously from 2008 to 2018, Badami Assembly constituency from 2018 to 2023, and Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency from 2004 to 2007,1994 to 1999, and from 1983 to 1989 in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Siddaramaiah served as the deputy chief minister of Karnataka from 1996 to 1999 and from 2004 to 2005 while he was a member of the Janata Dal and Janata Dal.

Siddaramaiah served as the leader of the opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on two occasions, from 2019 to 2023 and from 2009 to 2013.

Siddaramaiah was a member of various Janata Parivar factions for several years.

Siddaramaiah was born to Siddarame Gowda and Boramma at a remote village called Siddaramanahundi in Varuna Hobli near T Narasipura of Mysore district in a farming family.

Siddaramaiah is the fourth among six siblings, and he belongs to the Kuruba Gowda community.

Siddaramaiah studied at Mount Carmel School and completed his schooling from Vidyavardhaka High School, which is managed by Vidyavardhaka Sangha, Mysuru.

Siddaramaiah was a junior under a well-renowned lawyer, P M Chikkaboraiah, in Mysore and later taught law for some time at Vidyavardhaka Law College managed by Vidyavardhaka Sangha, Mysuru.

Siddaramaiah was asked to contest and was elected to the Mysore Taluka.

Siddaramaiah contested on a Bharatiya Lok Dal ticket from Chamundeshwari constituency and entered the 7th Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1983.

Siddaramaiah first suffered defeat in the 1989 Assembly elections, beaten by a veteran Congress leader, M Rajasekara Murthy.

Siddaramaiah was elected again in the 1994 State Elections and became the Minister for Finance in the Janata Dal government headed by Deve Gowda.

Siddaramaiah was made Deputy Chief Minister when J H Patel became Chief Minister in 1996.

Siddaramaiah was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and dropped from the Cabinet on 22 July 1999.

Siddaramaiah addressed ahinda samavesha in Hubballi, which had the huge public gathering.

Siddaramaiah even challenged Reddy brothers in the house when he was the leader of the opposition that he would come to Bellary through padayatra.

Siddaramaiah celebrated his 75th birthday on 3 August 2022 in Davanagere and called it "Siddaramotsava", where more than 20 lakh followers of Siddaramaiah had attended the program.

In 2005, after differences with H D Deve Gowda, Siddaramaiah was expelled from JD.

Siddaramaiah wanted to revive a regional party "ABPJD" in the state after quitting the JD, but he did not because regional parties formed earlier in Karnataka had not survived.

Siddaramaiah subsequently garnered mass support from the backward classes and joined the Congress at a large public meeting held in Bangalore, in Sonia Gandhi's presence.

Siddaramaiah won the Chamundeshwari bypolls held in December 2006, by a margin of 257 votes against M Shivabasappa of JD, despite a fierce campaign against him by Deve Gowda, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister Yeddyurappa in the constituency.

Siddaramaiah won the 2013 election from the same constituency on 8 May 2013 and was reelected for the 7th time.

Siddaramaiah was elected as the leader of the Congress legislative party in the Karnataka assembly on 10 May 2013.

Siddaramaiah lost in Chamundeshwari, but won in Badami vidhan sabha seat beating BJP heavyweight Sriramulu with a narrow margin of 1,696 votes and he was reelected for the 8th time.

Siddaramaiah was the chairman of coordination committee that coordinated the congress-JDS coalition govt under H D Kumarswamy.

Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief minister for the second time.

Siddaramaiah was elected as Chief Minister after Congress adopted a secret ballot to select the new chief minister.

Siddaramaiah became the first chief minister of Karnataka to serve full 5 years term in 40 years, and the second in the history of the southern state after Devaraj Urs.

Siddaramaiah holds the record of presenting state budget 13 times as a finance minister in Government of Karnataka.

Siddaramaiah insisted that the officers roll back his "zero-traffic" protocol to avoid traffic congestion problems for the public.

Siddaramaiah's cabinet approved reverting changes by the previous BJP government in school textbooks, which included removing lessons on RSS founder K B Hedgewar and Hindutva figure Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, launched a scheme providing free bus rides to women in the Karnataka state buses and announced implementation of other four pre-poll guarantees in the state budget.

Siddaramaiah increased taxes on liquor, beer, stamp duty and registration of properties, and certain vehicle categories to fund the above-mentioned schemes.

Siddaramaiah has 50 cases pending against him in the Lokayukta.