Although former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy was in favour of supporting the BJP on the floor of the Assembly on November 19,  he was ‘forced’ to change his decision when the JD (S) Legislature Party meeting was in progress, following instructions from his father. In fact, Mr Gowda dictated the whip and asked his son to sign and circulate it among the JD (S) legislators, the sources said.

Nearly 90 per cent of the JD (S) MLAs were in favour of extending support to the BJP and avoiding the mid-term polls, the sources said.

As soon as the whip was issued, a group of MLAs led by Mr Cheluvarayaswamy, Alandur Srinivas, and Veerabasanth Reddy took both Mr Kumaraswamy and Mr Gowda to task for changing decisions without taking legislators into confidence.

They also went to the extent of saying that they were not ‘sheep’ to follow blindly whatever Mr Gowda said, and threatened to violate the whip in the Assembly. According to the sources, the MLAs also questioned Mr Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy for calling back BJP leaders who were under the ‘Dharma Yatra’ in Tumkur, promising to extend support for the formation of a coalition government.

If the JD (S) was not interested in supporting Mr B S Yeddyurappa, what was the need for them to invite the BJP leaders, they questioned. Their action had sent a wrong signal among voters, and the MLAs have to face the music in the next elections.

They are also said to have questioned why Mr H D Revanna got the affidavits signed from all legislators, affirming their decision to support the BJP, if Mr Gowda had already made up his mind to pull down the Yeddyurappa Government.

 Just a few minutes before the start of the JDLP meeting, Kumaraswamy was firm on forming the BJP-JD(S) coalition government. But things took a U-turn after Deve Gowda decided not to support Yeddyurappa at any cost.

Since the beginning, Deve Gowda was against the BJP, but he kept quiet just because his son, H D Kumaraswamy, was the chief minister. However, Mr Gowda did not favour the BJP, and issued  whip opposing the confidence motion.

He is said to have been quite adamant, not listening to anyone who tried to convince him. Naturally, many legislators were upset with Mr Gowda’s decision, and a few dared violate the whip, come what may.

“Once election dates are announced, a majority of JD (S) legislators are likely to quit the party as they fear that they might be defeated if they contest on JD (S) ticket. More importantly, they are unhappy with the attitude of Deve Gowda and his sons. This is the main reason for these legislators not being ready to join the new regional party being floated by Mr Kumaraswamy, as they fear Mr Gowda’s control over them once again,” sources noted.