Decades ago, a village headmaster by name Rajanna was conducting a door-to-door survey in Mysuru to identify school dropouts. At a hamlet called Siddaramana Hundi, he found a shepherd boy of about ten years of age who had never entered the schooling system.
The boy, Siddaramaiah, spent his time tending to goats and sheep, besides learning Veera Kunitha, a folk dance. But for Rajanna who convinced the family and admitted Siddaramaiah directly to Class V, he would perhaps have been an accomplished folk dancer today, and not the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Socialist To Congressman
Siddaramaiah would pursue his BSc and then law. After practising law for a brief period, he would successfully contest the assembly elections from Chamundeshwari constituency in 1983 as a Bharatiya Lok Dal Party candidate and later join the Janata Party, becoming a minister in the Ramakrishna Hegde cabinet in 1985.
Over the years, he would go on to become the Deputy Chief Minister twice, only to be sacked on both occasions due to the political situation prevailing at the time. After his expulsion from Janata Dal (Secular) he formed a loosely knit organisation Ahinda which brought minorities, backward classes and Dalits under one roof. In 2006, he joined the Congress and went on to become the Chief Minister for the first time in 2013.
A socialist all his life, Siddaramaiah was deeply influenced by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. However, the socialist halo would dim in the coming years when he would be criticised for his expensive tastes including possession of a luxury watch, said to cost Rs 80 lakh when he was the Chief Minister. Siddaramaiah would then handover the watch to the state treasury.
All eyes would be on Siddaramaiah during his second term in view of the promises made by the Congress in its manifesto which is expected to leave the exchequer poorer by Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000 crore. Though he is not an economist by any stretch of imagination, Siddaramaiah is considered a financial wizard of sorts.
Having presented perhaps the state’s first revenue surplus budget about two decades ago, the fiscal discipline that he instilled whenever he held the finance portfolio has set a precedent for all other governments. It would be interesting to see how he juggles the finances this time without resorting to increased borrowing.
Siddaramaiah also has a good grasp over law, especially the Constitution and even his political rivals listen to him in rapt attention when he speaks in the assembly.
The Personal And The Political
Many accuse Siddaramaiah of being casteist and overly partial to his Kuruba community and backward classes, especially in official postings. Though he is known for his administrative skills, a section of the bureaucracy dislikes his “arrogance and highhandedness”. His supporters say his rustic demeanour is mistaken for being rude.
However, unlike one of his predecessor B S Yediyurappa - who was said to be running a kitchen cabinet, Siddaramaiah had kept his family at bay during his first term as Chief Minister. For instance, his younger son Rakesh who was politically active did not live in the same house and had no access to Siddaramaiah’s office. After Rakesh’s death, his elder brother Yathindra, a doctor by profession, became an MLA from Varuna in 2018.
He relinquished the seat in favour of his father this time. While Yathindra, a bachelor, is spiritually inclined with little or no interest in a materialistic life, Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi has always remained out of the public gaze. Siddaramaiah’s brothers, all of whom are illiterate, have never been seen in Vidhana Soudha.
On the personal front, the new Chief Minister is not an atheist like many believe, though he has no inclination or patience for elaborate forms of worship. Not many are aware that homa and havans are a regular feature of his house, with his wife and son being deeply religious.
When Siddaramaiah was a student, some of his teachers would send him to fetch beedis for them. That is when he picked up the smoking habit, which he later gave up. Admittedly, he does enjoy a drink or two in the evening, but has never been known to cross his limits.
While Siddaramaiah’s concern for the poor and downtrodden are well known, he also needs to cultivate the industrial sector considering the state’s poor track record in the field of manufacturing. Karnataka does not face any major challenges at present and given that this is his last innings in politics, Siddaramaiah should leave behind a legacy that the state will remember forever.
Gautham Machaiah is a senior journalist and political commentator based in Bengaluru. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication