Siddaramaiah was sacked from JDS, where he had earlier served as its state unit chief, with critics of the party insisting that he was removed as Deve Gowda was keen to
promote Kumaraswamy as the party's leader.
Siddaramaiah, an advocate, at the time also talked about "political sanyas" and even toyed with the idea of going back to his law practice. He ruled out floating a regional outfit, saying he can't muster money power. Both the BJP and the Congress wooed him to join them.
