Is this the end of the road for Siddaramaiah?

Bengaluru: With Monday’s election results reducing the Congress from 124 to 78 seats, the man who lead it to this nadir had risen like a phoenix from the ashes of an all but dead political career just five years ago.

Has Siddaramaiah now hit rock bottom? His prophecy of his party coming back to power with a thumping majority has proved to be a dud. His dream of becoming  chief minister again lies shattered. What next for chief minister Siddaramaiah, who humbled in his home district but managing to win with a wafer thin margin in a constituency completely alien to him like Badami was forced by the party bigwigs to stand next to his bête noire, H.D. Kumaraswamy, to whom his party has offered unconditional support?

Barely five years ago, the shoe was on the other foot. It was Siddaramaiah who was the most sought after leader, in his party and his followers.

The party high command heeded his diktat without a murmur. He ruled the state,  an unquestioned king. But, the ‘Janata Janardhan’ have not only clipped his wings but also made him pay for his diatribe against leaders of two national parties - Janata Dal (Secular) and Bharathiya Janata Party made the electorate reject the Congress Party lock, stock and barrel.

“Congress is going to win 130 seats and I will be the next chief minister. I am going to win from both Chamundeshwari and Badami Assembly seats with a big margin. None can stop this”, Mr Siddaramaiah would say at one  political rally after another. The voters decided otherwise.  

Janata Dal (Secular) candidate and former minister, Mr G T Deve Gowda defeated the CM by a margin of 36,042 votes in Chamundeswari.

Luckily for Mr Siddaramaiah, he won from Badami against Ballari MP and BJP candidate, Mr B. Sriramulu by a wafer-thin margin of 1,696 plus votes. Had the BJP tried a little harder, it could have been the chief minister’s Waterloo.

People, who were once close to Mr Siddaramaiah told this newspaper that his behaviour changed after he became the CM.