1 / 7The Congress party on Thursday formally named Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, along with DK Shivakumar as the Deputy CM. The swearing in ceremony of CM designate will be held at a Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, May 20. This is the second time that Siddarmaiah will serve as the Chief Minister of Karnataka as he previously led the government in 2013 for a full term becoming the third CM in the state’s history to do so. Here’s are the longest serving CMs of Karnataka.
2 / 7D Devaraj Urs | D Devaraj Urs who became the ninth chief minister of Karnataka, served for the longest duration as the CM. He served for a total of 7 years 6 months as the Chief Minister of the state. The late Congress leader was the CM from March 1972 to December 1977 for a full five year term and again he held the top post for nearly two years from February 1988 to January 1980. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
3 / 7S Nijalingappa | Congress Chief Minister S Nijalingappa held the top post twice for a total duration of 7 years 4 months. He held the office for a full five year term between May 1962 and May 1968. He also held the top post for 18 months from November 1956 to May 1968. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
4 / 7Ramakrishna Hegde | Ramakrishna Hegde is the third longest-serving CM of Karnataka who was in office for a total of 5 year and 3 months period. Hegde served as the Karnataka CM for three terms between January 1983 and August 1988. He was succeeded by SR Bommai. (Image: Reuters)
5 / 7BS Yediyurappa | One of the most prominent leaders in the state, BS Yediyurappa was sworn in as Chief Minister four times. He is the only person to become the CM four times and he also holds the record for one of the shortest serving CM of the state. Yediyurappa first became the CM in 2007 in the BJP-JD(S) coalition government, which lasted only for seven days as JD(S) leader and former CM HD Kumaraswamy went back on the power-sharing agreement. His second tenure was in May 2008 after BJP came to power in the state for the first time, but he had to step down after a little over three years after he was indicted in an illegal mining case in Ballari.
6 / 7His third term lasted only for three-days in 2018, after the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly elections, but with no majority. BJP won 104 seats while the majority mark was 113 to form the government. Yediyurappa had to resign just ahead of a Supreme Court-mandated floor test. In 2019, Yediyurappa was made CM after the JD(S)-Congress coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy fell. His term lasted for two years before increasing opposition within the party ended his tenure.
7 / 7Siddaramaiah | The new chief minister-designate, Siddaramaiah, became the first CM of Karnataka to serve a complete five-year term between 2013 and 2018 in the last 40 years. He was also only the third chief minister to do so in the state's history after Devaraj Urs and S Nijalingappa. If Siddaramaiah completes a full five-year term for a second time he will create a record of becoming the longest-serving CM of Karnataka. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
