According to GT Devegowda, a JD(S) MLA and former minister, some of the party’s legislators have urged HD Kumaraswamy to back the new BJP government in Karnataka from outside. Speaking in Bengaluru on Friday, Devegowda said the final decision would rest with the former chief minister.

A split over the next step

Barely four days after losing power, the party’s MLAs were divided on what to do next. The differences came out at a meeting Kumaraswamy called on Friday night to settle the party’s course after the upheaval in state politics. Devegowda said some members wanted the party to sit in opposition, while others felt it should support the BJP from outside, and that they had authorised Kumaraswamy to decide.

Yediyurappa sworn in

The meeting took place on the same day that Yediyurappa of the BJP took the oath as chief minister for the fourth time, facing a tough task in securing a majority. Soon after the oath, he said he would move a confidence motion in the Assembly on July 29.

He took the oath alone, succeeding Kumaraswamy three days after the Congress-JD(S) coalition lost a confidence vote following a revolt by many of its MLAs. The JD(S) and the Congress have accused the BJP of bringing them down by luring and threatening their legislators.

JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda congratulated Yediyurappa on his swearing-in in a tweet.

A troubled history

Despite talk of a possible BJP-JD(S) tie-up, Yediyurappa had lately rejected any alliance, pointing to the parties’ bitter experience in the past. In 2006 the two parties formed a coalition in which Kumaraswamy was chief minister and Yediyurappa deputy chief minister, under an arrangement to share power for 20 months each. That government collapsed when the JD(S) did not hand over power to the BJP, which then went on to win the 2008 election.

See also: Janata Dal (Secular) | Bharatiya Janata Party

Originally published on 27 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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