In 2008, the BJP under the leadership of B. S. Yeddyurappa, won 110 seats, emerging as the single largest party. As the party did not have a majority of its own, having not won 113+ seats, it had to form a government with the support of a few
independent MLA's. The BJP thus came to power for the first time in South India with Yeddyurappa becoming the Chief Minister of Karnataka. However, the five years in which BJP was in power in Karnataka was not smooth and was mired in many controversies. A few months after coming to power, the BJP encouraged Congress and JD(S) MLA's to defect to the BJP to boost its strength in the assembly. Yeddyurappa had to face many revolts over his style of functioning from the Reddy brothers (
Karunakara,
Somashekara and
Janardhana) and B. Sriramulu, a faction led by Balachandra Jarkiholi and the old BJP loyalists led by
Ananth Kumar. Janardhana Reddy was arrested in the
Bellary illegal mining scam in 2011. Some BJP leaders like
Katta Subramanya Naidu, Ess Enn Krishnaiah Setty and Yeddyurappa were imprisoned for some time for their role in individual land scams. Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy of JD(S) were accused of encouraging
illegal mining, though were cleared later by the
High Court of Karnataka. In its five years of rule, the BJP had three Chief Ministers. Yeddyurappa was forced to resign as Chief Minister in July 2011 due to his alleged involvement in a land scam. He was replaced by his handpicked successor and loyalist
D. V. Sadananda Gowda, who faced a challenge from
Jagadish Shettar, the Chief Minister choice for Yeddyurappa's opponents in the BJP. However, Gowda soon fell out with Yeddyurappa and the latter began to revolt against him, threatening to quit the BJP if Gowda was not removed. The BJP High Command replaced Gowda with Shettar, only 11 months after he became Chief Minister. Shettar was another Lingayat BJP leader whom Yeddyurappa opposed becoming his successor just less than a year ago as they were from the same caste. Yeddyurappa quit the BJP in November 2012 and formed his own party, the
Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP). Previously, Sriramulu had quit the BJP in 2011 to form the
Badavara Shramikara Raitara Congress (BSR Congress) after Janardhana Reddy was imprisoned. These splits weakened the BJP. == Parties and Alliances ==