Siddaramaiah first in 40 years to serve full 5-year-term as Karnataka CM

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Bengaluru, March 28, 2018 (Zee News): As assembly election dates were announced on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah is set to become the first Karnataka Chief Minister in 40 years to complete his term at the top post. The last chief minister to have served the state for the full term was D. Devaraj Urs from 1972 to 1977. He also could not serve for the entire term when he was reelected for the second time in 1978. However, till date, he has been the longest-serving chief minister of the state and held the term for over seven years in 1970s.

From the Sixth Assembly session to the current 14th session, Chief Ministers have been appointed 18 times. Also, the state in these 40 years has seen four terms of President’s rule.

A self-professed backward class leader, Siddaramaiah had won a simple majority in the 2013 elections and had taken over as the 28the chief minister of the state. Before taking over as the CM, he had served as deputy chief minister in two previous governments led by the Janata Dal and the Janata Dal (Secular), respectively. He left the Janata Dal (Secular), founded by HD Deve Gowda, in 2005.

The relations between him and his one-time mentor Deve Gowda have gone from bad to worse. The ties between the two came under strain in 2005 after Siddaramaiah expressed his unhappiness over party affairs and dominance of the former Deve Gowda’s son HD Kumaraswamy, the then JD(S) state unit working president.

The former PM had recently claimed that grooming Siddaramaiah was his "biggest mistake." "Is he a chief minister? How long will you stay? I will see. I have taken a vow. I will today seek the apology from the people of Karnataka for grooming such an immoral politician. Grooming such a lowly chief minister is my biggest mistake. I will repeatedly say he is unfit to continue in the post," a visibly upset Gowda had said.

Ahead of the upcoming elections, Siddaramaiah has ensured that there is no pre-poll alliance with Gowda, at least till now. Exuding confidence of a victory in the polls, Siddaramaiah has been saying that the Congress will return to power in Karnataka on its own and will not need the help of HD Deve Gowda and Janata Dal (Secular).