Janata Dal (Secular)
The Janata Dal (Secular) traces its roots back to the Janata Party founded by Jayaprakash Narayan who united all the opposition parties under one banner for the 1977 national elections.
The Janata Dal was formed with the merger of the Janata Party with smaller opposition parties in 1988. In 1996, the party reached its pinnacle when Deve Gowda became Prime Minister of India, heading the United Front (UF) coalition government.
In 1999, when some senior leaders of the party decided to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA, the party split into many factions. Many secular leaders including the Late Madhu Dandawate joined the Janata Dal (Secular) faction headed by Deve Gowda who became the National president of the this faction.
He was defeated in the 1999 general elections but staged a comeback by winning the Kanakapura By-elections in 2002.
The 2004 elections in Karnataka witnessed the revival of his party’s fortunes with the Janata Dal (Secular) winning 58 seats and becoming a part of the ruling coalition in the state. Later, the party joined hands with the BJP and formed an alternate government in 2006. His son H. D. Kumaraswamy headed the popular BJP-JDS coalition government in the state for 20 months. In the 2008 state elections, the party performed poorly and won just 28 seats but has remained a significant force in the South Karnataka.
Read more about this topic: H. D. Deve Gowda