Kumaraswamy shows political acumen again

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is joining first time the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the BJP-led NDA just last year.Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Kumarswamy has never formed a government on its own in Karnataka but has been in power twice in coalition with both national parties despite being a junior partner -- for 20 months with the BJP from February 2006 and for 14 months with the Congress after the May 2018 assembly polls. Kumaraswamy was chief minister on both occasions.
The 64-year-old Vokkaliga leader has made no secret of his desire to become agriculture minister.By winning the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, the former CM has not only managed to regain the JD(S)'s lost bastion, but also demonstrated that the party is still a force to be reckoned with in Karnataka, by allying with the BJP.Kumaraswamy defeated Venkataramane Gowda of the Congress by a margin of 2,84,620 votes.The son of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has now managed to secure a cabinet berth by allying with the BJP, at a time when his party was fighting the 'battle for survival'.JD(S) won two out of the three seats it contested, and BJP in 17 out of 25 in the state, which has a total of 28 constituencies in Karnataka.
Kumaraswamy, who grew up in a political environment, forayed into electoral politics by successfully contesting the Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat in 1996. He subsequently lost both the Parliamentary and assembly elections. He was elected to the assembly for the first time in 2004, when the JD(S) joined the coalition government led by Congress's Dharam Singh after the polls threw up a hung house.In 2006, he rebelled and walked out of the coalition with 42 MLAs, reportedly against the wish of his father, citing a threat to the party, and formed the government with the BJP, becoming the chief minister during his very first term as MLA.

(State Correspondent)