As Siddaramaiah prepares to overtake D Devaraj Urs as Karnataka’s longest-serving chief minister, he has chosen a low-key moment, slipping quietly into his hometown of Mysuru even as history beckons. On the eve of breaking the record, the veteran leader reflected on the fleeting nature of milestones, likening politics to cricket and remarking that records, like Sachin Tendulkar’s, are meant to be broken. His moment arrives despite sustained pressure from his deputy, DK Shivakumar, whose ambitions to take over the chief minister’s post increasingly appear unrealistic.
Now in his second term, Siddaramaiah has surpassed Urs’s cumulative tenure of seven years and 239 days and shows no inclination to step aside. The Congress high command, despite internal murmurs, has displayed little urgency to disturb the status quo. Born in August 1948, Siddaramaiah may yet add another record if he leads the party into the 2028 Assembly elections, potentially becoming the oldest serving chief minister Karnataka has had.
Inevitably, comparisons with Devaraj Urs dominate the political conversation. Urs, who governed from 1972 to 1980, reshaped Karnataka’s social and political structure through bold reforms that empowered backward classes and dismantled entrenched dominance of Lingayats and Vokkaligas. His legacy includes the pioneering Backward Classes Commission under LG Havanoor, far-reaching land reforms, the abolition of bonded labour, and a reservation framework that transformed access to education and government employment. Despite limited personal political capital, Urs succeeded because of strong backing from Indira Gandhi, and his reforms permanently altered Karnataka’s political landscape.
Siddaramaiah’s journey has been different. A Kuruba leader from the backward classes, he rose through the Jayaprakash Narayan-inspired Janata movement and was mentored by Ramakrishna Hegde. Political realignments and setbacks marked his early career, including near political extinction after the 1989 polls. His defining moment came when he narrowly won the Chamundeshwari by-election after joining the Congress, a victory that allowed him to steadily consolidate control within the party.
His political strength has rested on the ‘Ahinda’ coalition of backward classes, Dalits and minorities, which helped revive the Congress when it was floundering in the early 2000s. As chief minister from 2013, Siddaramaiah combined welfare-heavy governance with astute political management, introducing schemes such as Anna Bhagya and directing substantial funds toward backward classes and minorities. He also maintained firm control over the party and its legislators, becoming the first chief minister in over three decades to complete a full five-year term.
Yet his record has not been without blemish. Public dissatisfaction over infrastructure, drought management and job creation led to his defeat in his home constituency in 2018, even as he survived politically through a narrow win elsewhere. The subsequent years of unstable coalition politics and shifting alliances culminated in his return to power in 2023, buoyed by the Congress’s ‘five guarantees’ that resonated particularly with women voters.
Now heading the so-called ‘Guarantee Sarkar’, Siddaramaiah faces mounting criticism over the fiscal strain of welfare commitments that have cost nearly Rs 2 lakh crore, leaving little room for development spending. As internal power struggles dominate headlines and public frustration grows, the contrast with Devaraj Urs becomes sharper. Siddaramaiah’s longevity underscores his political resilience, but whether his welfare-driven model can match Urs’s transformative legacy of structural reform remains an open and pressing question.
