BENGALURU: JDS state president and former CM HD Kumaraswamy for the first time became a union minister as Narendra Modi’s cabinet was sworn-in in New Delhi on Sunday evening. Though he was the ninth to take oath as cabinet minister, he was the first among NDA partners. It is a testimony to the BJP-JDS pre-poll alliance that had the blessings of Kumaraswamy’s father and former PM HD Deve Gowda.
After the swearing in, Kumaraswamy, who is likely to get an agriculture-related ministry, said he will work in the interest of the state, including the sanctioning of pending projects.
The rank and file of JDS, ecstatic over Kumaraswamy’s inclusion, celebrated across Old Mysuru region, where the party’s presence is prominent. Party leaders Nikhil Kumaraswamy, JDS core committee chairman GT Deve Gowda, Bandeppa Kashempur and others were in New Delhi witnessing the swearing in.
“I have taken oath as a Cabinet Minister in the NDA Government led by Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi avaru. I extend my respectful thanks to Hon’ble President Mrs. Draupadi Murmu for administering the oath. I also thank the citizens of the Mandya Lok Sabha Constituency, the people of Karnataka, and the cadres of the JDS and BJP parties for giving me the opportunity to serve the country,” he posted on ‘X’.
Being the son of HD Deve Gowda, he has joined a rare league of children of former PMs working in the central cabinet.
Earlier, former Indian PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s sons Harikrishna Shastri and Anil Shastri (one time each) and Chaudhary Charan Singh’s son Ajith Singh (thrice) had served as Union ministers.
Kumaraswamy was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 after winning the Kanakapura seat. But he switched to state politics and became an MLA in 2004 and served as CM of Karnataka between 2006 and 2007. In 2009, he switched back to national politics after getting elected from the Bangalore Rural LS seat and that was when it was speculated that he could become a deputy PM.
He again returned to the Assembly in 2013. In 2018 when the state threw up a fractured mandate, he became the chief minister of the Congress-JDS alliance government which lasted hardly a year. He was elected MLA from the Channapatna Assembly seat in 2023. JDS forged an alliance with BJP for the Lok Sabha polls and he won from Mandya.
