Pavitra Jayaraman, Maya Sharma for NDTV

Bangalore, Feb 3: It was a year ago, this weekend, that HD Kumaraswamy took over as chief minister of Karnataka.

Until then, he was better known as the son of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.

Kumaraswamy led a breakaway faction of JD(S) MLAs to cobble together an unlikely alliance with the BJP - a party his father had often and vocally opposed.

Not everybody expected the government to survive, but one year on, Kumaraswamy is still there.

Endearing qualities

His down to earth image and accessibility has won him his share of admirers and he surprisingly seems to have sailed through the several challenges that could have tripped him up. These include:

Regular friction with coalition partner, the BJP, on issues ranging from the Shoba Yatra in communally sensitive Chikmagalur, appointments to boards and corporations, to most recently, the CM's announcement on waiver of farm loans without consulting the BJP.

Criticism over the poor state of Bangalore's infrastructure from industry and investors.

Allegations of involvement in land scams around the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project.

Allegations of accepting huge bribes to allow illegal mining in Bellary district to continue.

Despite all this, the youngest Chief Minister the state has known, seems to have settled so comfortably into his role that a frequently asked question is whether he will really hand over the CM's post as agreed to his coalition partner, the BJP later this year.

"I am mentally prepared to hand over my charge after eight months. I had never dreamt I would become Chief Minister. In unimaginable circumstances, situation forced me to take charge. On the same day I took charge, I was mentally prepared to step down from the gaddi," said H D Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister, Karnataka.

But despite the initial outrage expressed by Deve Gowda at the supposedly rebellious action of his son in tying up with the BJP, Gowda is now often seen as the real power behind the throne, and not everyone believes in the smooth transition of power.

"I don't think that Deve Gowda ji is going to transfer power to BJP so easily," said Mallikarjuna Kharge, Chief, KPC.

Power transition

But this son of the son of the soil seems to have caught the imagination of the public despite the cynicism.

"We like it because the roads are improving. We want Kumaraswamy to continue," said a local. "He is good. He has done a lot of things, improvement in software and roads," said another.

But the KPC chief expressed his surprise at Kumaraswamy 's popularity.

"I don't know on what count he is popular because without implementing anything, without executing any good projects, how people appreciate, I don't know," he said.

It's a view that the chief minister himself seems to agree with. "I am not satisfied with my performance because our state faces lot of problems," he said.

The people's verdict seems to be in favour of Kumaraswamy, which was not bad for a man whom many expected not to last as chief minister for more than a few months.

None of the rather serious allegations against him seems to have stuck. For a man who claimed he never expected to be chief minister, he seems to have been born for politics.