Deve Gowda wins but dreams of national role dashed

Former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda's unimpressive show in his home state of Karnataka has put paid to his aspirations of playing a key role on national scene through the much touted Third Front which took a beating at the national level also.      

Keeping aside his health problems, Gowda, considered one of the prime movers of the third front, plunged into the thick of electioneering, criss-crossing the state attacking BJP's governance, hoping to reap an impressive harvest of seats that would give him good leverage at the national level.      

Gowda, who turns 77 tomorrow, won hands down by a whopping margin of 291,000 votes in his bastion Hassan against weak Congress and BJP candidates— B Shivaramu and K H Hanumegowda respectively.      

Gowda's son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who had created a flutter with his hush-hush meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi ahead of the polls, cruised to a comfortable win with a margin of over 100,000 votes.       

Seeking to downplay his son's meeting with Gandhi, Gowda had said "I am neither interested in becoming a King nor a King maker". Ironically, this has become a reality with the Third Front, launched in Karnataka on March 12, ending up with 68 seats and UPA all set to form government on its own.

The JDS could win only three seats out of the 19 it contested, just one more than the 2004 tally.Gowda whose party reportedly had a tacit understanding with Congress could not succeed in his effort to stop the juggernaut of BJP, which won 19 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats, one more than in the 2004 polls.      

JD(S) chief's calculations of not fielding his party candidates in a couple of seats reportedly to help Congress to defeat BJP went awry. Candidates of CPI and CPI(M), part of the Third Front, in Udupi-Chikmagalur and Dakshina Kannada respectively, could also not breach the saffron citadel.      

JDS did not contest the Shimoga seat to help veteran leader S Bangarappa of Congress to humble Yeddyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra, but the calculation went wrong here too.      

In Bellary, Gowda adopted a similar strategy to strike at the enormous influence being wielded in the state government by high-flying mine owners and ministers-- G Janardhana Reddy, G Karunakara Reddy and B Sreeramulu. However Sreeramulu's sister J Shanta of BJP scraped through by a slender margin of 2000-odd votes.      

To the consternation of Gowda, in all the constituencies where JDS either did not field candidates or supported left parties, BJP won them with ease.     

Despite these setbacks, Kumaraswamy says his party was open to support to UPA Government "if Congress seeks it". Besides Hassan, JDS won in Bangalore Rural and Mandya.