After days of intense campaigning, winning the elections and fighting off internal rift, Siddaramaiah is beginning his second term as the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
In his first term, he has proven himself to be a progressive development oriented leader, while taking along weaker sections of the society like farmers, women and also taking on the BJP’s polarisation agenda.
As he takes oath amid a persisting tension with his deputy, DK Shivakumar, what will weigh on everyone’s minds is how this government will deliver the five major promises the Indian National Congress made in its manifesto in the assembly elections.
A look at his past term might perhaps give an indication into how Siddaramaiah 2.0 could turn out to be.
Rise to chief ministership in 2013
Following the 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections, Siddaramaiah ascended to the Chief Minister’s seat after he led the Congress to an absolute majority with 122 MLAs in the 224 seat-Assembly.
Five years later, on May 15, 2018, he resigned from as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, after Congress failed to register a majority in the 2018 assembly elections. He became the first Karnataka chief minister to complete a full five-year term in 40 years of the state’s history and was the second only chief minister of Karnataka to do so after Devaraj Urs.
GSDP and state growth
Siddaramaiah also had a distinction of presenting the state budget 13 times as a finance minister, as he had been part of previous governments led by Congress, BJP and Janata Dal (Secular).
During the 2013-18 period, Karnataka’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) (at current prices) had grown at a rate of over 11 percent, according to a PRS Legislative Research report.
While presenting his last budget in 2018 ahead of the elections that year, Karnataka’s GSDP had grown at a rate of 15 percent for the financial year ending March 2018 to Rs 12.8 lakh crore. In the subsequent five-year period (2018-23) — which saw JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy, BJP’s Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai as chief ministers — the state’s economy grew at an average rate of 8.3 percent.
While ensuring growth, Siddaramaiah, during his term, put his focus on improving agriculture output of the state. Following the consistent decline in grain production over the years, Siddaramaiah launched Suvarna Krishi Grama Yojana which sought to disburse Rs 11,000 crore agricultural loans to 23 lakh farmers in 2016-17. Farmers would get short term loans up to Rs 3 lakh at zero percent interest and medium term loans up to Rs 10 lakh at 3 percent interest, He also abolished the agricultural income tax on coffee, tea and rubber growers in 2016.
IT and infrastructure
The information technology (IT) boom in Bengaluru pre-dates the Siddaramaiah era, and has grown consistently before and after. Today, it contributes over 60% to the state’s GSDP. Siddaramaiah deserves credit for developing IT parks, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), and technology clusters beyond Bengaluru to other parts of Karnataka, such as Mysuru, Mangaluru and others.
Tapping the IT ecosystem, which included hundreds of multinational companies, internationally funded startups and a huge talent pool, the government actively promoted entrepreneurship and startup culture in the state with initiatives like the "Startup Karnataka" programme, which started in early 2000s, wherein it nurtured and supported new ventures by providing funding, mentorship, and a favourable regulatory environment.
As one of the richer states in India, the infrastructure development in Karnataka has been a few strides ahead of many other parts in India. However, it has never been adequate for the demand, particularly, in the state capital Bengaluru. During the first term of Siddaramaiah, several elevated corridors and multi-level car parks came up, and more efforts have followed in the years since, but the proverbial pain that is the Bengaluru traffic continues to be a source for frustration as well as inspiring material for dystopian jokes.
He also initiated and pushed for green mobility through the adoption of electric state-run buses in Bengaluru and Mysuru.
During his term, the Bengaluru Metro also saw rapid execution on its two primary tracks — Green and Purple — paving the way for ease of commute in the traffic-congested city. He also initiated new lines for the Metro, but the poor implementation of these in the subsequent term has left the citizens in the lurch.
Siddaramaiah will have his task cut out this term too, as infrastructure growth has not kept pace with the rise in population of people and vehicles in the IT capital.
Namma Canteen to Metro to agriculture —Siddaramaiah’s focus on social aspects
Among the notable social sector schemes launched under Siddaramaiah’s rule were the Namma Canteen or Indira Canteen in Bengaluru, much like the Amma Canteen in Chennai under the late J Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu. These canteens would offer breakfast for Rs 5, and lunch and dinner for Rs 10 to the common citizens of the state. This was extended to 30 districts of the state in the form of Saviruchi Mobile Canteens through Zilla Stree Sakthi Associations.
The Bhagyalakshmi scheme introduced during his tenure provides financial assistance and support to girl children belonging to economically disadvantaged families at various stages of her life, such as birth and different levels of school.
Brush with identity issues — Kannadiga, Tipu Sultan and Lingayats
Politically, Siddaramaiah had proven to be an astute opponent for the Bharatiya Janata Party that was growing in influence. The Karnataka Chief Minister took the battle to the BJP, positioning himself a strong ideologically adversary, on every polarising debate.
He accused the BJP-led Centre of trying to impose Hindi on the Kannada-speaking state, and in 2017, multiplexes were asked to show Kannada or regional language films in at least one of the screens.
In March 2018, Siddaramaiah officially launched the state flag to assert the Karnataka identity, triggering widespread criticism by the BJP. The horizontal yellow-white-and-red striped flag however failed to get official recognition by the BJP-ruled Centre even though another version of the flag without the white stripe in between continues to be widely used by pro-Kannadiga organisations at local events to signify and celebrate the Kannadiga culture and Kannada language.
Having pushed back the BJP on the Amul vs Nandini row, ahead of the latest state assembly election in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah 2.0 may announce more policies that could appease the parochial sentiments.
When Tipu Sultan, the 18th century Muslim ruler of Mysore was accused by the BJP of killing certain communities of Hindus during his time, Siddaramaiah launched a counter-narrative by celebrating Tipu Jayanati.
However, his successor BS Yediyurappa ordered the cancellation of the Tipu Jayanti celebrations in 2019 citing Kodagu legislators’ opposition over alleged violence against communities in the region. It would be interesting to see if Siddaramaiah brings back Tipu Jayanti celebrations (December 1) in this term.
In 2018, Siddaramaiah also struck at the BJP’s key votebank, the Lingayats, by according them minority religion status. Lingayats (worshippers of the Hindu God Shiva) believe themselves to be a community that is distinct from traditional Hinduism. Siddaramaiah’s policy allowed them reservations in government education and jobs.
However, this too failed to pass muster at the Central level and had left a large section of the community disgruntled. And, the Congress lost the votes of the non-Lingayats because of its attempt to woo the community.
In the latest elections, the results for which came out on May 13, most of the Lingayat dominated constituencies voted for the Congress. Will Siddaramaiah make another push to strengthen his appeal in the community? Let’s wait and watch.
(Edited by : Pradeep John)
First Published: May 20, 2023 4:42 PM IST
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