{"id":25811,"date":"2025-12-03T06:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/19-years-in-congress-17-in-positions-of-power-can-siddaramaiah-continue-his-enviable-ride-politics-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T06:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:15:13","slug":"19-years-in-congress-17-in-positions-of-power-can-siddaramaiah-continue-his-enviable-ride-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/19-years-in-congress-17-in-positions-of-power-can-siddaramaiah-continue-his-enviable-ride-politics-news\/","title":{"rendered":"19 Years In Congress, 17 In Positions Of Power:\u00a0Can Siddaramaiah Continue His Enviable Ride? | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Some of Siddaramaiah’s cabinet colleagues, who don’t align with either camp, emphasise the importance of DK Shivakumar’s contributions<\/h2>\n
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The Kuruba leader received a lifeline when he joined the Congress\u00a0and won a by-election, returning to the Vidhan Soudha. (File image: PTI)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Siddaramaiah\u2019s political career faced a crisis in 2005 when he was expelled from the Janata Dal (Secular). His growing rift with party leader HD Deve Gowda<\/a>, particularly over Siddaramaiah\u2019s focus on the AHINDA movement (a social coalition of minorities, backward classes, and Dalits), led to his departure.<\/div>\n

The Kuruba leader received a lifeline when he joined the Congress\u00a0and won a by-election, returning to the Vidhan Soudha. Since then, he has held various positions, culminating in two terms as chief minister.<\/p>\n

In 2008, despite competition from senior Congress leaders, Siddaramaiah was appointed Leader of the Opposition. He served a full term and led a padyatra to Ballari to expose illegal mining by the Reddy brothers. When Congress came to power in 2013, Siddaramaiah became Chief Minister, surpassing contenders like Mallikarjun Kharge and DK Shivakumar. Shivakumar had openly expressed his ambition for the CM post, stating, \u201cI am not a swami ji, I too have ambitions.” Siddaramaiah completed a full five-year term with the support of the Congress high command.<\/p>\n

However, he failed to ensure the Congress\u2019s victory in the 2018 assembly elections. Despite this, he was appointed Coordination Committee Chief when the Congress-JD(S) government was formed, lasting until 2019. After the coalition government fell, Siddaramaiah resumed his role as Leader of the Opposition until 2023.<\/p>\n

The Congress entered the 2023 assembly elections under a collective leadership slogan, with DK Shivakumar contributing his organisational and financial prowess. This resulted in a historic mandate for the party, and Siddaramaiah once again became Chief Minister, surpassing Shivakumar and others. This leadership tussle has sparked a debate within the party about rewarding old-timers versus late entrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome may bring votes, some may bring financial power, while others might excel at strategy; you need all these to win an election. Collective leadership must be rewarded at every level, including the grassroots,” said former MP VS Ugrappa.<\/p>\n

Some of Siddaramaiah\u2019s cabinet colleagues, who don\u2019t align with either camp, emphasise the importance of DK Shivakumar\u2019s contributions. \u201cThe high command values both leaders. Siddaramaiah has received significant support from the party and respects Rahul Gandhi. Similarly, the Gandhis recognise DK Shivakumar\u2019s sacrifices for the party. Despite the opportunity to join the BJP, he chose the difficult path, which cannot be ignored,” said an unnamed minister.<\/p>\n

Political analysts note the diminishing returns of loyalty in modern politics. \u201cMany loyal leaders don\u2019t even become ministers or MLAs, let alone chief minister. There are hundreds of such individuals within the Congress party,” said senior journalist Ramakrishna Upadhya.<\/p>\n

The Congress high command faces a tough decision that could send a strong message to leaders across the country.<\/p>\n

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About the Author<\/h2>\n
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\"Harish<\/figure>\n

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Harish Upadhya<\/a><\/p>\n

Harish Upadhya, an Assistant Editor at CNN-News18, reports from Bengaluru. Political reporting is his forte. He also tracks India’s space journey, and is passionate about environmental reporting and R…Read More<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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First Published:<\/span><\/p>\n
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December 03, 2025, 08:00 IST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

News<\/a> politics<\/a> 19 Years In Congress, 17 In Positions Of Power:\u00a0Can Siddaramaiah Continue His Enviable Ride?<\/span><\/div>\n
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Last Updated:December 03, 2025, 08:00 IST Some of Siddaramaiah’s cabinet colleagues, who don’t align with either camp, emphasise the importance of DK Shivakumar’s contributions The Kuruba leader received a lifeline when he joined the Congress\u00a0and won a by-election, returning to the Vidhan Soudha. (File image: PTI) Siddaramaiah\u2019s political career faced a crisis in 2005 when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}