The accidental Chief Minister

When H.D. Kumaraswamy, the State president of Janata Dal (Secular), was sworn in as the Chief Minister back in 2006, his party’s strength stood at 58. Now, as he is set to be sworn in again on Wednesday, his party has 37 seats in the 224-strong Karnataka Assembly.

JD(S) was often described as the potential kingmaker in the run-up to the elections, but the State head of the party is now all set to be the king. The Congress, which has 78 MLAs on its side, has offered him unconditional support in a bid to stitch together a grand non-BJP coalition.

A science graduate from Bangalore University, Mr. Kumaraswamy was a reluctant politician despite his father being in politics for decades.

Interest in films

His first love was the film industry. Before he took a plunge into politics, he produced and distributed films under the Channambika Films banner. His latest production stars his own son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

His first foray into politics was through the Kanakapura Lok Sabha constituency in 1996.

He grew into prominence in the party the same year after his father H.D. Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister because of a sudden change in political scenario. He has never looked back since, despite some ups and downs in electoral politics. In 2004, he was elected to represent Ramanagaram Assembly segment and has won four times from there, including in 2018.

Mr. Kumaraswamy’s decision back in 2006 to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party was much against the wishes of his father, who saw it as a blot on his secular credentials. Now, in the first press meet after the Congress gave him unconditional support and accepted him as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the coalition, Mr. Kumaraswamy said his main aim was to “remove the blot” of joining hands with “communal forces” that his stint with the BJP had brought upon his father.

On Wednesday, as per his father’s grand design, Mr. Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in ceremony as the 30th Chief Minister might provide a platform to bring together a spectrum of non-BJP parties ahead of 2019.