Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah is a politician from Kerala. He has been the leader of Karnataka state since 2013. Curently, he belongs to the Indian National Congress party.

Siddaramaiah was born to Siddarame Gowda and Boramma in a small village in Karnataka in 1948. His family was into farming. Despite starting his schooling after he was 10, he eventually earned degrees in Science and Law from Mysore University.

His political journey began in the late 1970s when he was spotted by a lawyer and encouraged to run for the Mysore Taluka. He contested on a Bharatiya Lok Dal ticket from Chamundeshwari constituency and entered the 7th Karnataka Legislative Assembly in a surprise victory in 1983 and gained popularity in the region. He held various positions in different political parties over the years, including ministerial roles.

Subsequently, he affiliated with the then governing Janata Party and assumed the inaugural presidency of the Kannada Surveillance Committee (Kannada Kavalu Samiti), which oversaw the enforcement of Kannada as an official language. Following his re-election from the same constituency during the 1985 midterm polls, Siddaramaiah assumed the role of Minister for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services. Within Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde's administration, he managed various portfolios, including Sericulture, Animal Husbandry, and Transport, at different junctures.

His first electoral setback came in the 1989 Assembly elections, where he was defeated by the seasoned Congress leader, M. Rajasekara Murthy. Subsequently, in 1992, he was appointed as Secretary General of the Janata Dal, a party also joined by H. D. Deve Gowda. Following his re-election in the 1994 State Elections, Siddaramaiah assumed the position of Minister for Finance in the Janata Dal government led by Deve Gowda. Upon J. H. Patel's ascension to Chief Minister in 1996, Siddaramaiah was elevated to the role of Deputy Chief Minister.

Post the schism within the Janata Dal, he aligned with the Janata Dal (Secular) faction led by Deve Gowda and assumed leadership of its state unit. However, he faced electoral defeat in the 1999 state elections. In 2004, during the coalition government formed by the Indian National Congress and JDS, with Dharam Singh as Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah was reinstated as Deputy Chief Minister.

In 2005, after differences with H. D. Deve Gowda, Siddaramaiah was expelled from JD (S). He wanted to form a regional party "ABPJD" in the state after quitting the JD (S), but he could not. The he joined the Congress party.

Despite facing tough competition from Deve Gowda, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, he won elections from the Chamundeshwari bypolls on the Congress ticket in 2006.

In the 2008 state Assembly elections, he contested from Varuna Constituency and was re-elected for the fifth time.

In 2013, he became the Chief Minister of Karnataka after leading the Congress party to victory in the state elections.

In simple terms, Siddaramaiah is a politician who grew up in a farming family. He became the Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2013 after being involved in politics for many years and switching parties along the way. He is married to Parvathi and has two sons. Also, Siddaramaiah is an Atheist.