| He was never considered to be the political heir to his father. He started overshadowing his elder brother H. D. Revanna when he clinched the post of Working President of Janata Dal (Secular) party.
He rose to prominence in the national media when he, along with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), engineered a defection in his own party, the Janata Dal (Secular). Forty-two MLAs of Janata Dal (Secular) under his leadership left to form the government.
On January 28, 2006, Karnataka Governor T. N. Chaturvedi invited him to form the government in the state after Dharam Singh resigned earlier in the day.
Kumaraswamy inaugurated the Suvarna Karnataka year-long celebrations marking the Rajyotsava after 50 years of Karnataka unification on November 1, 2006. The Hampi Utsav marks the celebration of culture of Karnataka was inaugurated by Kumaraswamy and Governor T. N. Chaturvedi.
On September 27, 2007, Kumaraswamy said that he would leave office on October 3 as part of a power-sharing agreement between the Janata Dal (Secular) and the BJP, despite the calls of some legislators in the JD(S) for him to remain in office for the time being due to complications in arranging the transfer of power.[1] However, on October 4, 2007, he refused to transfer power to BJP saying he will go to peoples court.[citation needed] Finally on October 8, 2007, he tendered his resignation to Governor Rameshwar Thakur and the state was put under President's rule.[citation needed] 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 November 12, 2007. However the JD(S) withdrew support after 1 week as the BJP refused to accept the conditions imposed on the latter by the former. Initially as Chief Minister, he had won great moral support of the people with his Grama Vasthavya (i.e., rural stay), his Janata Darshan (wherein he personally met the people to solve their problems) and his proactiveness. However later he was criticised for breaking his promise to transfer power to the BJP.
Later, on 19 December 2007, he underwent a heart operation to replace a damaged heart valve. He eventually recovered and was the JD(S) chief minister candidate for the 2008 elections.
He has once again won from Ramanagaram comprehensively in the 2008 assembly election, defeating the nearest rival candidate by more than 40,000 votes. However he could not refurbish his party's dented image as it went on to win only 28 seats. It is now rumoured that he may return to national politics in the next Lok Sabha election.
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