Siddaramaiah to become Karnataka’s longest-serving CM

Set to surpass D Devaraj Urs as the longest serving Chief Minister of Karnataka on January 6, Siddaramaiah on Monday credited the historic milestone to the blessings of the people.

Highlighting a key difference between himself and Urs, he said while Urs belonged to the ruling class, he hailed from the socially backward community (Kuruba or shepherd).

Addressing reporters in Mysuru, he said, “With the blessings of the people, tomorrow late D Devaraj Urs’ record of being the longest serving Chief Minister of Karnataka will be broken. The matter of pride is that I and Urs belong to Mysuru.” Asked whether he had ever imagined that he would ever break the record, he admitted that he had never imagined even becoming a Minister, let alone the CM.

“I had only thought that I will be an MLA after becoming the Taluk Board member. I have so far won eight elections. I lost two Parliament elections and two Assembly elections. In my life, I have contested in 13 elections, including Taluk elections,” Siddaramaiah said. On his comparison with Urs, he said, “Devaraj Urs was not socially backward. In fact, he was from a forward class, the ruling class. He was from a community which is less in population, but he was a popular leader.”

The Chief Minister said there is no comparison between him and Urs. Noting that the era of Urs was different from the present, Siddaramaiah said Devaraj Urs contested elections by collecting money directly from the people. “People gave him money and votes in 1962. Time has now changed,” he said. To a query if there is any chance of breaking his record, Siddaramaiah said records are meant for breaking.

Using a sports analogy, he compared his feat to Virat Kohli breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record in cricket. “I never said that no one will break my record. Someone may emerge to break my record of the longest serving Chief Minister or the one who presented the maximum budgets.” Siddaramaiah has so far presented 16 budgets. On budget preparations, the Chief Minister said it will start after Makara Sankranti.

In response to another question on ‘Sadhana Samavesha’ (celebration of the achievement), Siddaramaiah said, “State Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda is planning something, but I don’t have any details as such. I will speak to him.” Regarding the cabinet reshuffle, Siddaramaiah said, “It has to be done. I will speak to Rahul Gandhi whenever he calls me. I have told him that I will speak to him in January.”

Referring to the Ballari clashes, the Chief Minister said he would discuss it with State Home Minister Parameshwara on Tuesday. When he was told that the firing took place reportedly from the gunman of Congress MLA Bharath Reddy, Siddaramaiah said, “Let the investigation be completed. We will get to know after the investigation is over.

Reacting to the BJP’s demand for a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge, the Chief Minister said he will speak after the investigations are completed. Regarding GST compensation to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said a grave injustice is happening to the state Government. “The state is incurring a loss of Rs 12, 000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore a year. Earlier, the Centre was giving the entire money for MGNREGA, which was started by the Manmohan Singh Government. Now the Centre has repealed the MNREGA and introduced VB-G-RAM-G.

“Earlier, people were supposed to get 100 days' work and the right to livelihood was the fundamental right, but now that right has been snatched. It is totally wrong. It’s unconstitutional,” the Chief Minister said. Under the VB-G-RAM-G, the Centre will pay 60 per cent while the state has to contribute 40 per cent, resulting in an expenditure of Rs 3,000 crore a year for the state Government, he added. He alleged that the Centre wants to destroy the scheme meant to support poor people.