H. D. Kumaraswamy


Hardanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy is an Indian politician and businessman who is the former Chief Minister of Karnataka. He is a former president of the Karnataka State Janata Dal and son of former Prime Minister of India H. D. Deve Gowda.
Kumaraswamy has served two terms as the Chief Minister of Karnataka–2006 to 2007 and 2018 to 2019. He resigned from the position of Chief Minister on 23 July 2019 after his coalition government lost a no trust motion in the 15th Assembly to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Early life and education

Kumaraswamy was born in Haradanahalli, Holenarasipura taluk of Hassan district, Karnataka to H. D. Deve Gowda and Chennamma.
He completed primary education in a government school in Hassan district. He finished his high school studies in Bangalore's MES Educational Institution in Jayanagar and Bachelor of Science degree from National College Basavanagudi, Bangalore.

Personal life

On 13 March 1986, Kumaraswamy married Anitha Kumaraswamy. They have a son, Nikhil Gowda.
In November 2010, Kannada film actress Radhika revealed that she married Kumaraswamy in 2006. They have a daughter named Shamika Kumaraswamy.

Political career

Kumaraswamy entered politics by winning from Kanakapura in the 1996 general elections. He sought re-election from Kanakapura in 1998 and lost to M. V. Chandrashekara Murthy. This was Kumaraswamy's worst defeat ever where he lost by such a margin that he even forfeited his deposit.
He again contested unsuccessfully for a Sathanur assembly seat in 1999 when he was defeated by congress heavyweight D. K. Shivakumar. In 2004, he was elected to represent the Ramanagara assembly segment. When the 2004 state elections resulted in a hung assembly with no party getting enough seats to form a government, the Indian National Congress and Janata Dal parties decided to come together and form a coalition government. Known for his adaptability and friendly nature, Dharam Singh of the Congress was the unanimous choice of both parties to head the government. He was sworn in as Chief Minister on 28 May 2004. Forty-two MLAs of Janata Dal under Kumaraswamy's leadership left the coalition and the government collapsed. On 28 January 2006, Karnataka Governor T. N. Chaturvedi invited Kumaraswamy to form the government in the state after the resignation of the Congress Government led by Dharam Singh.
He was Chief Minister of Karnataka from 4 February 2006 to 9 October 2007.
On 27 September 2007, Kumaraswamy said that he would leave office on 3 October as part of a power-sharing agreement between the Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite the calls of some legislators in the JD for him to remain in office for the time being, due to complications in arranging the transfer of power. However, on 4 October 2007, he refused to transfer power to the BJP. Finally, on 8 October 2007, he tendered his resignation to Governor Rameshwar Thakur, and the state was put under President's rule two days later. However, he reconciled later and decided to offer support to the BJP. BJP's B. S. Yeddyurappa was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on 12 November 2007.
But, again refused to support BJP government over a disagreement on sharing of ministries which resulted in Yeddyurappa resignation as Chief Minister on 19 November 2007.
After the untimely demise of Karnataka state JD President Merajuddin Patel, he was elected unopposed as President of the state unit.
However, after the by-election results of Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency and Mandya in which his party candidates lost, he resigned from the post of President of the Janata Dal State unit, and as leader of the opposition.
However, party cadres succeeded in convincing him not to quit as leader of opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. In September 2013, A. Krishnappa was selected as Janata Dal-Secular's president for Karnataka, filling the vacancy left by Kumaraswamy.
In November 2014 Kumaraswamy was elected as Karnataka state Janata Dal President. Kumaraswamy is popularly known for releasing audio and video CD's accusing political rivals of corruption.
after becoming Chief Minister in May 2018
In 2018 elections in Karnataka state, JD was the third-largest party but after a post-poll alliance with the Rahul Gandhi led Indian National Congress, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister on 23 May 2018.
In the 2019 parliament elections, his son Nikhil Gowda contested in the Mandya against an independent candidate Sumalatha, wife of film actor Late Ambareesh. Kumaraswamy took this contest as a prestige and campaigned all across the constituency. In vain his son lost the election by a margin of 1,30,000 odd votes. This was a major setback and abashment to Kumaraswamy in his political career. He also shed tears in a party convention in Mandya, recalling the election loss faced by his son.
On the month of July 2019, His Government lost its majority when 13 MLAs of Congress and 3 MLAs of his own party resigned to their MLA Posts. BSP MLA Mahesh N & 2 Independent MLAs withdrew their support for H.D.Kumaraswamy led coalition Government in Karnataka. On 23 July Kumaraswamy lost his majority in Karnataka floor test.
Kumaraswamy resigned to the Chief Minister post, by submitting his resignation letter to governor Vajubhai Vala on 23 July 2019. Then, with the success of BJP's political plans; BJP was invited to form the government as the single largest party, by the governor and B. S.Yediyurappa took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka by succeeding him.

Positions held

Kumaraswamy is into film production and distribution. He has produced several Kannada films including Chandra Chakori, a huge hit, credited with 365 day-run in theaters. Surya Vamsha which was directed by S. Narayan was the debut movie produced by Kumaraswamy under Chennambika films, named after his mother. In 2016 his banner also produced his son's debut movie Jaguar and his 2nd movie Seetharama Kalyana in 2019.
In September 2007, Kumaraswamy started the Kannada television channel Kasturi. The channel is now owned and managed by his wife Anitha.

Controversies

Bigamy charges

Kumaraswamy was accused of bigamy which is illegal according to Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 of India. A public interest litigation was filed after media reports of his marriage to Kannada cinema actress Radhika Kumaraswamy surfaced. Since Kumaraswamy is married to his first wife Anitha, his second marriage with Radhika is a violation of law. However a division bench of Karnataka High Court headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen dismissed the case citing "lack of proof".

Janthakal mining scam

Kumaraswamy and his wife Anitha are facing charges in the Janthakal mining scam. He is accused of pressuring a senior bureaucrat to renew Janthakal Enterprise's lease of iron ore mining for 40 years on the basis of forged documents and violating several rules. The bureaucrat, Ganga Ram Baderiya, was allegedly given kickbacks by Janthakal Enterprise. The owner of Janthakal Enterprises, mining baron Vinod Goel, was arrested in 2015 on charges of forgery. A Special Investigation Team is probing this scam on the direction of Supreme Court of India.

Vishwabharati case

Kumaraswamy and his wife Anitha are accused of misuse of official position in allotment of 80 acres of land to Vishwabharati House Building Cooperative Society Ltd, a private cooperative society, which later made a quid pro quo site allotment to Anitha, during Kumaraswamy's tenure as Chief Minister in 2006.

Accusations of skirting law and order

In December 2018, Kumaraswamy was caught on tape purportedly instructing someone, allegedly a senior police officer, to avenge the killing of a local Janata Dal leader, Honnalagere Prakash. He was heard saying: "He was a good man, I don't know why did they murder him. Kill them mercilessly in a shootout, no problem."
The video was shared widely on social media and Kumaraswamy came under heavy criticism by the opposing party, accusing him of being irresponsible and skirting proper law and order. His office later issued a statement saying the comments were an emotional reaction to the incident and not orders.

Release of CD on Mangalore protests

Kumaraswamy called for a press meet and released a CD containing 35 video clips of the violence during the Mangalore protests against the CAA. The video presented the policemen acting violently against the protesters and beating up the civilians of the city, leading to riots in the city. He accused that the police directly followed the government orders inhumanly and were the main reason for the shoot out that killed 2 people during the protests.
The BJP in return accused that these video clips are all edited versions of older footages of some other circumstances. They also said that Kumaraswamy is misleading the people by producing inappropriate footages in public that provokes confusion and violence among the people. The BJP included saying that Kumaraswamy, being a senior politician in the state is directly accusing the government officials and the police, which is unacceptable.