HD Kumaraswamy Profile: HD Kumaraswamy: Kingmaker Who Will Now be the King in Karnataka

Before the 12 May elections in Karnataka, HD Kumaraswamy had repeatedly asserted to several media outlets that this time he would be the king and not the kingmaker. After an intense drama and a torrid tug-of-war, the verdict ruled in his favour.The third son of Janata Dal (Secular) supremo and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy will be sworn in as the chief minister on Wednesday.This is the second time that Kumaraswamy will get to wear the throne, 12 years after the JD(S) formed a coalition government with the BJP on 4 February, 2006 and remained in office for 20 months till 9 October, 2007.Kumaraswamy to take oath as Karnataka CM on WednesdayKumaraswamy spent his early years in Haradanahalli in Hassan district and moved to Bengaluru for completing his BSc from National College.A filmmaker-turned-politician, Kumaraswamy's entry into politics was marked by his successful claim over the Kanakpura Lok Sabha seat in the 1996 general election. However, even with his father as the then Prime Minister, Kumaraswamy eventually lost the Kanakpura seat in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections and then the Sathanur seat in 1999 assembly elections.His fortunes took a turn when he was elected to the Assembly in 2004 from the Ramanagara constituency, a seat which he has not lost ever since. The same year saw JD(S) joining hands with the Congress to form a coalition government.DK Shivakumar: The Man Who Checkmated Amit Shah in Karnataka However, in 2006, an ambitious Kumaraswamy pulled his MLAs from the coalition and joined hands with the BJP, ultimately becoming the chief minister.He took charge as the Karnataka JD(S) president after Merajuddin Patel passed away, but gave up the post after the party lost the by-election in Mandya and Rural Lok Sabha constituency. He came back as the state president in 2014.Kumaraswamy, during his tenure as the chief minister was well-known for his populist measures in the rural and agricultural sector.After the 12 May elections threw up a hung assembly with neither the BJP nor the Congress able to cross the halfway mark, the latter rushed to the JD(S) to form an alliance, offering the position of the chief minister to Kumaraswamy.A vehement protest against Governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision to ask BJP to form government, and a rare midnight drama at the Supreme Court later, the Congress-JD(S) combine emerged victorious with the resignation of BJP’s three-day Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Saturday, ahead of the trust vote as BJP with 104 seats fell short of 7 seats for a simple majority (111) in the 224-member Assembly.Kumaraswamy was then invited by the governor to form the government as the leader of the JD(S) legislative party with the support of the Congress.However, in an exclusive interview to The Economic Times, Kumaraswamy said he was disappointed that yet again he became the chief minister without the people’s mandate. He told the publication, “I wanted to become king through the mandate of the people, not like this. The first time, in 2006, I became CM due to political developments. Today also, my situation is the same. It is not because of the blessings of the people. Why didn’t the people of Karnataka understand what I feel? Why didn’t they have belief in me? I am feeling terrible about that.”Who Will be the Dy CM, Speaker?Karnataka Congress president G Parameshwara will be sworn-in as the deputy chief minister, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state K C Venugopal said.Congress's Ramesh Kumar, a former minister, will be the next Assembly speaker, while the deputy speaker's post will go to the JD(S), Venugopal told PTI.The Congress would have 22 ministers and JD(S) 12, he said, adding that they would be sworn-in after the floor test slated for Friday.Officials had earlier said Kumaraswamy will seek a confidence vote on Thursday. The decision to defer the trust vote by a day ostensibly stems from rules that require the election of the speaker before the exercise.A Blow by Blow Account of What Happened At Karnataka’s Floor Test(With inputs from PTI, IANS, The Times of India, The Indian Express)

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HD Kumaraswamy: From Kingmaker to King of Karnataka

After an intense political battle in Karnataka, JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy will take oath as the CM on 23 May.

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Topics: HD Kumaraswamy Karnataka Chief Minister Karnataka Elections 2018