Karnataka - Hassan   

The kingmaker turns 75 today

Shama Sunder

H.D.Deve Gowda

HASSAN: Janata Dal (S) president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda turns 75 on Friday.

Born in a backward village Haradanahalli in Holenarsipur taluk of Hassan district on May 18, 1933, he went on to become Chief Minister and then Prime Minister.

Mr. Deve Gowda studied in the government polytechnic in Hassan and worked as a civil contractor. He entered politics by becoming taluk development board member from Holenarsipur. When the Congress did not give him the party ticket, he contested as an independent and won from the Holenarsipur Assembly constituency in 1962.

He was elected again as an independent from Holenarsipur in 1967 and in 1969.

After Emergency was imposed, he was put in jail along with Ramakrishna Hegde and others.

The Janata Party was formed and Mr. Deve Gowda headed the State unit.

In 1978, Mr. Deve Gowda won from Holenarsipur as a Janata Party candidate, but the party did not get majority. In 1983, the Janata Party came to power in State with outside support of the BJP. Mr. Deve Gowda became Minister for Public Works and Irrigation in the Ramakrishna Hegde Government. When Ramakrishna Hegde resigned, Mr. Deve Gowda missed becoming Chief Minister and the post went to S.R. Bommai.

In 1989, Mr. Deve Gowda formed the Samajwadi Janata Party. He lost the Assembly election. In 1991, he won the Hassan Lok Sabha seat.

In 1994, Mr. Deve Gowda became president of the unified Janata Dal.

In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the Janata Dal fared well in Karnataka. All through his political career, Mr. Deve Gowda has been a kingmaker.

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