In May, Congress was voted back to power with 121 seats in the 224-member Assembly.
A tectonic political shift that brought the Congress back to power dismantling the BJP's first-ever government in the South topped the developments during 2013 in Karnataka.
The year also saw the usual quota of bitter wrangle on Cauvery water sharing between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, bomb blast near BJP headquarters in Bangalore and the passing away of legendary playback singers P B Srinivas and Manna Dey.
On the corporate front, the country's IT capital saw the grand re-entry of N R Narayana Murthy as Chairman of Infosys two years after his retirement in a bid to revive its fortunes.
Political turbulence continued in the state in 2013 with the BJP government becoming shaky as the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar faced continuous criticism from B S Yeddyurappa's supporters.
Twelve MLAs backing Yeddyurappa resigned from the BJP and joined Yeddyurappa to topple the precarious Shettar government in January.
The number of rebels began to swell with Yeddyurappa going on the offensive to rope in more MLAs with the crisis continuing to keep the chequered regime of BJP on edge till the end of its term.
As the Assembly elections neared, the writing on the wall for the BJP was clear that its days were numbered as an anti-incumbency atmosphere became more and more palpable with political instability and corruption charges tainting the government's image.
In May, the electorate handed out a clear and decisive mandate voting the Congress back to power with 121 seats in the 224-member Assembly and pushing BJP to the third spot.
Yeddyurappa's KJP chipped away BJP's votes share, garnering 10 per cent of the votes polled but only managing to win six seats. It, however, had the consolation of teaching a lesson to BJP, which won only 40 seats, down from 110 secured in 2008.
The stand-alone victory was a big relief for the Congress which has returned to power after a hiatus of more than seven years. The last time the party enjoyed a clear mandate was in 1999 when it won 123 seats under S M Krishna's leadership. The Congress had formed a coalition government with the JDS in 2004 which was short lived.
64-year-old Siddaramaiah was chosen by the Congress to head the government. A man of the Janata Parivar lineage, Siddaramaiah took over the reins of administration on May 13.
The early part of 2013 saw Karnataka and Tamil Nadu locked in a wrangle over water sharing with the state saying it cannot spare water as it could affect its water needs. Tamil Nadu insisted on 12 TMCft of water release.
The year started on a happy note for Tamil Nadu as the Centre issued the notification on the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal providing a framework for water sharing, thanks to the Supreme Court's intervention.
A few weeks ahead of the May 8 Assembly elections, a bomb blast in close proximity to the BJP headquarters in Bangalore left 17 people.
Vigilante groups' activism surfaced again in Mangalore district in January when four girls and three boys were allegedly harassed by some fringe Hindu group activists who accused them of smoking cannabis in an ice cream lounge. This was, however, an isolated incident in the district which had been witness to several such cases of different magnitude in the past.
A big void was created with the demise of Srinivas, who ruled the roost in Kannada cinema for more than two decades. PBS, as he was called, was the voice of Kannada thespian Rajkumar for whom he sang several evergreen numbers. Srinivas was popular in the Tamil film industry too.
The death of Manna Dey was another big loss. Dey, a Bengali, sang for Hindi films and had chosen to live in Bangalore and made it his home, winning the hearts of local people.
In December, the scion of the erstwhile Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar died of cardiac arrest. He was the last descendant of the Wodeyar dynasty, which was held in high esteem in the old Mysore region.
Wodeyar was arguably one of the richest royals in the country who had continued to be the titular head of the dynasty and performed all the rituals during the famous Mysore Dasara festivities.
The attack of a woman bank official in an unguarded ATM kiosk in Bnagalore with the CCTV footage showing the assailant repeatedly hitting her with a machete evoking a national outrage, was also among the list of crimes recorded in the state.
The incident had forced closure of more than 1,000 unguarded ATM kiosks in the city, many of which have, however, reopened after remedial measures to provide security were taken by the banks.
The IT world in Bangalore saw an unexpected change with the comeback of Narayana Murthy as Infosys chairman.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be back here in an executive capacity," 66-year-old Murthy admitted, as he readied himself for the second innings. His return as the anchor of the software major came as Infosys, once the icon of the IT industry that set benchmarks, found itself on shaky ground.