"I will be the king and not the kingmaker," H D Kumaraswamy had said in the run-up to the Karnataka Assembly polls in 2018.
His words turned prophetic as the 59-year old Vokkaliga leader occupied the coveted post on May 23,2018 despite his JD(S) finishing a poor third in the polls.
But, like his last stint, his tenure as Chief Minister was short-lived as the wobbly coalition government that he headed finally collapsed after over 13 months in power.
Kumaraswamy lost the trust vote Tuesday in an unending battle of nerves played out in the State Assembly over four days during the debate on the confidence vote moved by him.
His coalition government was pushed to the brink with 16 MLAs,13 from the Congress and three from JDS, resigning, while independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh withdrew support.
One Congress member Ramalinga Reddy subsequently retracted from his decision to resign, saying he would support the government but then it was all in vain.
Kumaraswamy's second term as chief minister was a hard one, with coalition worries and disgruntlement within, repeatedly threatening the longevity of his government.
Managing the coalition contradictions and ensuring the stability of the government became a daily exercise to an extent that Kumaraswamy called himself a "child of circumstances."