Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah (ANI)
NEW DELHI: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said he is set to surpass the late D. Devaraj Urs as the state’s longest-serving chief minister on January 6, but stressed that the two leaders should not be compared due to their different social backgrounds.“With the blessings of the people, tomorrow late D Devaraj Urs’ record of being the longest serving Chief Minister of Karnataka will be broken. The matter of pride is that I and Urs belong to Mysuru,” he told reporters.
Reflecting on his political journey, Siddaramaiah said, “I had only thought that I will be an MLA after becoming the Taluk Board member. I have so far won eight elections. I lost two Parliament elections and two assembly elections. In my life, I have contested in 13 elections, including Taluk elections.”Claiming there is no direct comparison between himself and Urs, he said, “Devaraj Urs was not socially backward. In fact, he was from a forward class, the ruling class. He was from a community which is less in population, but he was a popular leader,” as quoted by PTI.Highlighting how politics has evolved over time, the Chief Minister added, “People gave him money and votes in 1962. Time has now changed.”On whether his record could be broken in the future, Siddaramaiah said, “Records are meant for breaking. I never said that no one will break my record. Someone may emerge to break my record of the longest serving Chief Minister or the one who presented the maximum budgets.” He has presented 16 budgets so far.Speaking about celebrations for his milestone, he said, “State Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda is planning something, but I don’t have any details as such. I will speak to him.”On a potential cabinet reshuffle, he said, “It has to be done. I will speak to Rahul Gandhi whenever he calls me. I have told him that I will speak to him in January.”