"Kumaraswamy will function as leader of the legislators," Gowda, who had strongly disapproved of his son's action and suspended him from the party and other MLAs for teaming with the Bharatiya Janata Party, told reporters in Bangalore after he announced the appointment of senior leader M P Prakash as the party's state unit president.

Gowda said Kumaraswamy would also submit names of the deputy leader and secretary of the legislative party to the Speaker and the newly appointed president and other senior office-bearers would also consult him on appointment to other posts, including working president. The list would finally be approved by him, he said.

He also announced appointment of another senior leader D Manjunath as chairman of the party's Parliamentary Board and Meerajuddin Patel as chairman of the Political Affairs Committee. Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti would head the legislative wing of MLCs and Prakash would preside over joint meetings of MLAs and MLCs.

"People will ridicule us if there is any split" said Gowda, who as party president, had maintained a strong public posture against his son being seen in the company of BJP in the seat of power and had even suspended him and others only recently. "All should cooperate in maintaining harmony."

Gowda said that Prakash, with the sole intention of preventing a split in the party, had acted against his directive and voted in favour of the confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy to prove the majority of his new coalition government in the assembly. "He did not allow the party to split. So I am giving him this responsibility."

He said that in order to avoid a split in the JDS, "I have suffered self-inflicted punishment and not punished anyone else" since January, when political developments saw the exit of the JDS-Congress government after a sudden revolt by Kumaraswamy-led legislators.