Siddaramaiah confident on completing term, equals Devaraj Urs record as longest serving CM

Mysuru: Siddaramaiah, who on Tuesday equalled Devaraj Urs' record as the longest-serving chief minister of Karnataka, while expressing confidence about him completing the full five-year term, maintained that the Congress high command will have to decide on it. He also said that he will discuss with the high command regarding the much-awaited cabinet rejig when they call him for discussion. In his second term as chief minister, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday, January 6, equalled Devaraj Urs' record as the longest serving Chief Minister of Karnataka for 2,792 days, and will surpass it on January 7. This unique record has come even as the power tussle within the ruling party has intensified amid speculations about a change in chief minister in the state, after the Congress government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20. The speculation was fueled by the "power-sharing" pact between Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar in 2023. "I have not done politics to break any record; It's only a coincidence. I did not know how many years and days Devaraj Urs served as CM. Today because of the blessings of the people, I have got an opportunity to equal Devaraj Urs's record. Tomorrow it will be broken," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

Asked if he will create another record by completing the full five-year term, he said, it has to be decided by the Congress high command. "I don't know when the high command will decide." To a question whether he has confidence about completing the full term and that the high command will decide in his favour, he said, "I have confidence. If I had no confidence, how would I have been the Chief Minister?... It all depends upon the high command's decision." Regarding his meeting with AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal on Monday in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah said the Congress leader was on his way to Bengaluru from Wayanad via Mysuru, before heading for Delhi. "As he was in Mysuru and I too was here, we met." Ruling out any discussion on cabinet reshuffle during the meeting, in response to a question as to when it can be expected, he said, "Let's see, let them (high command) call me (for discussion), I will discuss." Urs, who is considered an icon of social justice and land reforms in the state, was a two-term chief minister -- for 2,113 days from March 20, 1972 to December 31, 1977, and for 679 days in his second term from February 28, 1978, to January 7, 1980. Siddaramaiah, who is also the only CM after Urs to complete five years, was in the office for 1,829 days in his first term from May 13, 2013, to May 15, 2018. In his second term so far, since May 20, 2023, he has completed 963 days. Noting that he had never thought of any records, the CM said, the maximum he had thought of was becoming an MLA once. "I became MLA, I got opportunities, I became minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition, and became the Chief Minister too. I got opportunities, and I have performed the duties," he said. "Both Devaraj Urs and I are from Mysuru, but we were from different periods. He (Urs) was there from 1972 to 1980. I have been CM for two terms from 2013-18 and from 2023 to till now. Further, whatever the high command decides," he added. Stating that his political journey has been so long has given him "satisfaction", the chief minister said, serving people is something that gives happiness to him. "Politics means doing justice for the poor, Dalits, backward, and doing their work," he said.

Asserting that he has grown politically with the blessings of the people, Siddaramaiah said, there is still inequality in society, and until the inequality goes and everyone gets social justice, his fight will continue, and he will continue to serve the people. Siddaramaiah's fans celebrated their leader's accomplishment by organising feasts at several places, with dishes made out of his favourite "nati koli" (country chicken). Reacting to this and to a question that he has become a brand ambassador of sorts for 'nati koli' dishes, Siddaramaiah said, he doesn't know about it, and who was organising feasts. "I'm from a village and normally in our village nati koli dishes would be prepared when relatives come home, so I used to eat nati koli and ragi mudde (finger millet balls) earlier, now it is a bit less. Many people from villages like it as I did, but as I'm the chief minister, it is getting a bit of publicity," he added.