Congress leader Siddaramaiah, who is set to be Karnataka's new chief minister, can be blunt, earned his reputation as state finance minister and has a clean image.
Born Aug 12, 1948 in Siddaramanahundi in Mysore district, abut 130km from here, Siddaramaiah (only one name) is a late entrant to the Congress in 2006.
He started his political career in Bharatiya Lok Dal in 1983 when he entered the state assembly for the first time. He has been winning assembly elections since then from Mysore district except twice, in 1989 and 1999, when he lost.
Siddaramaiah has held various portfolios as minister in the governments of Janata Dal headed by Ramakrishna Hegde, H.D. Deve Gowda and J.H. Patel.
Earning his name as a good finance minister, he presented five successive budgets from 1994 and two more as finance minister in the Congress-Janata Dal-Secular government in 2004-2006.
Siddaramaiah was once considered a lieutenant of Deve Gowda but parted company in 2006, protesting Gowda promoting his family members in the party.
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He belongs to Kuruba (shepherd community). He and his wife Parvathi have two children, the elder Rakesh helps the father in his political life while the younger Yatindra is a medical doctor.
A law graduate, he practised law and also taught the subject for a while in Mysore.