Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda ( born 18 May 1933)was the 11th Prime Minister of India (1996–1997) and the 14th Chief minister of the state of Karnataka (1994–1996).
He is an influential leader of the Vokkaliga community and is popularly known as "Mannina maga" (Son of the soil) for espousing the cause of the farmers. He is the National President of the Janata Dal (Secular) party.
Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda was born on 18th May, 1933 in Haradanahalli village ofHolenarasipura taluk, Hassan District, Karnataka. He earned his Diploma in Civil Engineering from Smt.L.V. Polytechnic, Hassan, Karnataka. He married Smt. Chennamma and the couple have 4 sons and 2 daughters.
Early life and education
His parents, Shri Dodde Gowda and Smt. Devamma were from a middle class agricultural background. Hence, he was exposed to the hardships of farmers, early in his life and later became a champion of the farmers cause.
Deve Gowda joined the Indian National Congress party in 1953 and remained its member until 1962. During that period, He was the President of Anjaneya Cooperative Society ofHolenarasipura and later became a Member of the Taluk Development Board, Holenarasipura taluk, Hassan.
In 1962, Deve Gowda was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Holenarasipura constituency as an independent candidate. Later, He was elected from the same constituency to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for six consecutive terms from 1962 to 1989. He joined theCongress(O) during the Congress split and served as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly from March 1972 to March 1976 and again fron November 1976 to December 1977. During the Emergency (1975–77), he was imprisoned in the Bangalore Central Jail.
Deve Gowda was twice the President of state unit of the Janata Party. He served as a minister in the Janata Party Government in Karnataka headed by Shri Ramakrishna Hegde from 1983 to 1988. He became President of the state unit of Janata Dal in 1994 and was the driving force behind the victory of the party in the 1994 State Assembly elections. He was elected from theRamanagara constituency sworn in as the 19th Chief Minister of Karnataka in December 1994.
In January 1995, Deve Gowda toured Switzerland and attended the Forum of International Economists. His tour to Singapore, which brought in much needed foreign investment to the State, proved his business acumen.
In the 1996 general elections, the Congress party headed by P.V. Narasimha Rao lost decisively but no other party won enough seats to form a government. When the United Front (a conglomeration of non-Congress and non-BJP regional parties) decided to form the Government at the Centre with the support of the Congress, Deve gowda was unexpectedly chosen to head the government and became the 11th Prime Minister of India. He took over as Prime Minister of India on 1 June 1996 and continued until 11 April 1997. Also, He was the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the United Front, the policy making apex body of all the constituents of the ruling front.
Janata Dal (Secular)The Janata Dal was formed with the merger of the Janata Party with smaller opposition parties in 1988. In 1996, the party reached its pinnacle when Deve Gowda became Prime Minister of India, heading the United Front (UF) coalition government.
The Janata Dal (Secular) traces its roots back to the Janata Party founded by Jayaprakash Narayan who united all the opposition parties under one banner for the 1977 national elections.
In 1999, when some senior leaders of the party decided to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA, the party split into many factions. Many secular leaders including the Late Madhu Dandawate joined the Janata Dal (Secular) faction headed by Deve Gowda who became the National president of the this faction.
He was defeated in the 1999 general elections but staged a comeback by winning the Kanakapura By-elections in 2002.
The 2004 elections in Karnataka witnessed the revival of his party’s fortunes with the Janata Dal (Secular) winning 58 seats and becoming a part of the ruling coalition in the state. Later, the party joined hands with the BJP and formed an alternate government in 2006. His son H. D. Kumaraswamy headed the popular BJP-JDS coalition government in the state for 20 months. In the 2008 state elections, the party performed poorly and won just 28 seats but has remained a significant force in the South Karnataka.