Siddaramaiah: Writing alphabets on mud to chief minister (Profile)

Leaning to write Kannada alphabets on mud as his parents could not afford slate and chock, Siddaramaiah has come up hard way to take over Monday as Karnataka's chief minister.

Battling odds Siddaramaiah, born Aug 12, 1948 at a small village Siddaramanahundi in Mysore district, a bachelor of science and and a law degree , both from Mysore city, about 130 km from here.

After practicing and also teaching law at Myosre for a short while, Siddaramaiah entered politics as he thought it was the platform to work for his ambition - ensuring social justice in society.

He belongs to the Kuruba (shephered) caste, one of the country's many economically backward social groups.

From 1983 to 2006, he spent time opposing Congress as he was mostly part of the Janata Parivar, a reference to many factions of the Janata Dal.

Siddaramaiah joined the Congress in 2006 after leaving Janata Dal-Secular headed by former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda in protest against his promoting his family members in the party.

Since he is considered a prominent leader of the backward classes in Karnataka, his rise in the Congress has been swift, notwithstanding grumbling by a section that he is a 'migrant'.

From 2008, he was the leader of opposition in the assembly, taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party for its 'corrupt rule'.

Siddaramaiah's choice as the Congress chief minister was made a bit easy as another strong contender for the post, state Congress chief G. Parameshwara lost the May 5 assembly poll.

While he has earned a name as finance minister and good administrator, he can be brash and speaks his mind out without giving much weight to niceties.