JOIN USGoing may get tough for Siddaramaiah
In his struggle to secure the post during the last one year, Siddaramaiah, who is considered as an ‘outsider,’ has made a lot of enemies in the party. His animosity with the senior leaders of the party is no secret. Many of the senior party legislators, who are feeling neglected and abandoned by the party despite their loyalty, may not co-operate with him in carrying out his job in the House. He has never been comfortable in the Congress ever since he joined the party in 2005.
He openly revolted against the party after 2008 Assembly elections, when senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge was made the Opposition leader. He was neither made the KPCC chief, much to his humiliation.
He started facing trouble in his long political career (he is six time MLA), after severing ties with H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) in 2005. Siddaramaiah, whom the Congress High Command had initially preferred for the Chief Minister’s gaddi, was sidelined by his own leader Gowda, who preferred Dharam Singh of the Congress.
He could neither sustain the short-lived AHINDA movement, which he launched to prove himself a force in the State politics after falling apart with Gowda, nor, encash on it during subsequent elections.
Before Siddaramaiah joined the Congress, he almost had a smooth ride in his politics. Born on August 12, 1948 in Siddaramanahundi village, Varuna hobli, Mysore district, he first became MLA in 1983 with Bharathiya Lok Dal ticket from the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency. Then he joined the then Janata Party.
When the mid-term poll came in 1985, Siddaramaiah won from the same constituency as a Janata Party candidate. Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde made him the minister of State for Sericulture. Subsequently, he served as Animal Husbandry minister and Transport minister.
Following political turmoil in the State, he joined Janata Dal of Ramakrishna Hegde and became its secretary general. In 1994, he became the minister for Finance.
DH News Service