Congress veteran Siddaramaiah on Wednesday became the longest-serving chief minister of Karnataka, surpassing Devaraj Urs. Siddaramaiah expressed confidence that he will complete the full five-year term and that the Congress high command will have to decide on it.
The chief minister also said that he will discuss the much-awaited cabinet rejig with the high command when they call him for a discussion.
In his second term as chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday, 7 January, surpassed Devaraj Urs’ record as the longest serving Chief Minister of Karnataka for 2,792 days.
This unique record has emerged as the power tussle within the ruling party has intensified amid speculation about a change in chief minister in the state, following the Congress government’s reaching the halfway mark of its five-year term on 20 November. The speculation was fueled by the “power-sharing” pact between Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in 2023.
“I have not done politics to break any record; It’s only a coincidence. I did not know how many years and days Devaraj Urs served as CM. Today, because of the blessings of the people, I have an opportunity to equal Devaraj Urs’s record. Tomorrow it will be broken,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
Asked if he will create another record by completing the full five-year term, he said it has to be decided by the Congress high command. “I don’t know when the high command will decide.”
To a question whether he has confidence about completing the full term and that the high command will decide in his favour, he said, “I have confidence. If I had no confidence, how would I have been the Chief Minister?… It all depends upon the high command’s decision.”
Devraj Urs, considered an icon of social justice and land reforms in the state, served as a two-term chief minister, holding office for 2,113 days from 20 March 1972 to 31 December 1977, and for 679 days in his second term from 28 February 1978 to 7 January 1980.
Siddaramaiah, who is also the only CM after Urs to complete five years, was in the office for 1,829 days in his first term from 13 May 2013 to 15 May 2018. In his second term so far, since 20 May 2023, he has completed 964 days on Wednesday. Noting that he had never thought of any records, the CM said, the maximum he had thought of was becoming an MLA once.
“I became MLA, I got opportunities, I became minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition, and became the Chief Minister too. I got opportunities, and I have performed the duties,” he said.
“Both Devaraj Urs and I are from Mysuru, but we were from different periods. He (Urs) was there from 1972 to 1980. I have been CM for two terms from 2013 to 18 and from 2023 to the present. Further, whatever the high command decides,” he added.
Satisfying Political Journey
Stating that his political journey has been so long has given him “satisfaction”, the chief minister said, serving people is something that gives happiness to him. “Politics means doing justice for the poor, Dalits, backward, and doing their work,” he said.
Asserting that he has grown politically with the blessings of the people, Siddaramaiah said that there is still inequality in society, and until this inequality is addressed and everyone receives social justice, his fight will continue, and he will continue to serve the people.
Siddaramaiah’s fans celebrated their leader’s accomplishment by organising feasts at several places, with dishes made out of his favourite “nati koli” (country chicken).
Reacting to this and to a question that he has become a brand ambassador of sorts for ‘nati koli’ dishes, Siddaramaiah said, he doesn’t know about it, and who was organising feasts.
I have confidence. If I had no confidence, how would I have been the Chief Minister?
“I’m from a village and normally in our village nati koli dishes would be prepared when relatives come home, so I used to eat nati koli and ragi mudde (finger millet balls) earlier, now it is a bit less. Many people from villages like it as I did, but as I’m the chief minister, it is getting a bit of publicity,” he added.
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