Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, 93, has ended his seven-decade-long electoral politics by opting out of the Rajya Sabha contest from Karnataka as the joint candidate of the BJP and JD(S).
The BJP and JD(S) have instead fielded Prof M Nagaraj from Dharwad as the joint candidate, which has not created any ruffles among the coalition partners.
For the biennial election to Rajya Sabha from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the ruling Congress, which has 135 members, can easily win three seats along with three members expelled from BJP and two independent candidates. BJP and JD(S) together can win only one seat.
For some time, there were rumours that the veteran leader would be fielded as the Rajya Sabha candidate. Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy had said a couple of times that it was up to the BJP to decide whether to continue Deve Gowda in the Rajya Sabha or not. Even BJP State President B Y Vijayendra had said that the first preference would be given to Deve Gowda and the decision over other candidates would be made only after Deve Gowda decides not to contest.
According to sources, Deve Gowda himself had expressed his desire to return to the Rajya Sabha when J P Nadda was the BJP President. Nadda had discussed the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and for a long time, the issue had not cropped up between them. However, last week, the state leaders were given a green signal that a BJP candidate would be fielded for the lone seat. However, JD(S) neither made any further moves nor put any conditions before its coalition partner, implying that the Prime Minister has convinced the former Prime Minister.
For the last few weeks, Gowda was still active by talking about the Mekedatu project, participating in Mango Fairs organised by the Horticulture Department and so on. Meanwhile, the sources in Deve Gowda camp said that there was opposition within the family for Gowda continuing in any offices again.
At 93, Gowda has some age-related problems, which have restricted his movements without any support. Gowda's son-in-law and Member of Parliament from Bengaluru Rural district, Dr C N Manjunath, has advised the family against allowing Deve Gowda to indulge in any hectic activities, especially political ones. Since the family members never overrule directions from Dr Manjunath, they decided not to push for Deve Gowda candidature.
Besides, asking for either Rajya Sabha or Legislative Council seats would affect the party's prospects during General Elections to the Legislative Assembly, where JD(S) has to bargain for a bigger share of seats in the Old Mysuru region.
Deve Gowda began his political journey in 1953, at the age of 20, by joining Congress. In 1956, he was elected to the Taluk Development Board and in 1962, he got elected to the Legislative Assembly as an independent candidate.Since then, he never looked back.
Even when he was defeated in an election, he would bounce back in other form and has been active in politics for the last seven decades.
