Siddaramaiah resigned as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Thursday after directions from the Congress high command, ending his tenure as the state’s longest-serving CM. He submitted his resignation in the presence of Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, cabinet ministers and senior party leaders amid weeks of speculation over a leadership change (Pics/PTI)
Updated On: 2026-05-28 05:52 PM IST
Compiled by : Aditi Pawar
Siddaramaiah submitted his resignation to the Governor's Secretary in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, all cabinet ministers and other prominent party leaders
Later, addressing a joint press conference in Bengaluru alongside Shivakumar and Home Minister G. Parameshwara, Siddaramaiah said: “I have submitted my resignation from the Chief Minister’s post to the Governor’s Secretary.”
Siddaramaiah, 78, now joins an elite group of Karnataka politicians who have occupied the Chief Minister’s post more than once, including S. Nijalingappa, Veerendra Patil, D. Devaraj Urs, Ramakrishna Hegde, H.D. Kumaraswamy, and B.S. Yediyurappa
Over the course of his career, Siddaramaiah contested 12 Assembly elections and won nine of them. He also holds the record for presenting 17 state budgets
The two leaders also shared a warm embrace in front of party leaders and ministers gathered at the residence
The resignation follows a high-level meeting at the CM's official residence, 'Kaveri,' where Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar was seen paying respects to Siddaramaiah, a gesture interpreted as a symbolic passing of the torch
With Siddaramaiah stepping down from office, Karnataka politics now enters a new phase, even as his supporters describe his tenure as one of the most influential and transformative periods in the state’s political history
