Siddaramaiah's 'last election' all set to end in Congress defeat, BJP eyes government in Karnataka

Siddaramaiah had publicly announced that the 2018 elections would be his last and a loss would certainly end his political career which started when contested his first Assembly election from Chamundeshwari in Mysore on a Lok Dal ticket in 1983.

Siddaramaiah is only the second Karnataka chief minister after Devaraj Urs, who led the state government from 1972 to 1977, to complete the full term of fine years. But his dream of returning to power by leading the Congress to a win in the Karnataka Assembly elections 2018 seems to be fading with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking a huge lead.

The Congress had won the 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections by bagging 122 seats but the 2018 battle proved to be an entirely different ball game as a resurgent BJP under its chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa and under the mentorship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its national president Amit Shah ruined Siddaramaiah's dream. He had publicly announced that the 2018 elections would be his last and a loss would certainly end his political career which started when contested his first Assembly election from Chamundeshwari in Mysore on a Lok Dal ticket in 1983.

Siddaramaiah was with the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) till 2006 when he quit the party after former prime minister HD Deve Gowda started to project his son HD Kumaraswamy as his heir. He joined the Congress and nine years later in 2013 became the chief minister of Karnataka.

Coming from a poor family, Siddaramaih belongs to the Kurupa (shepherd) community and used to graze cattle in his childhood. He started his formal education late and went on to earn a Bachelor of Law degree from Mysore University. His started as a teacher in Vidyavardhaka Law College in Mysore.

Although he claims he does not remember his exact date of birth, the official record shows it is August 12, 1948. He was born in Siddaramanahundi village, which is almost 23 km from Mysore. He detests being called a leader of the Kuruba community, which is just 6 percent of Karnataka and instead terms himself as a backward class leader.