Know Your Leader | Vokkaliga icon HD Deve Gowda has been in active politics for 65 years

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Age is just a number for former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch HD Deve Gowda, who has been in active politics for more than 65 years.

Father of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda is now pushing 86. The number, however, has not been able to overshadow his political stint as the leader is once again in the fray for the Tumkur Lok Sabha seat in upcoming elections.

It is for the first time that the veteran leader is contesting from Tumkur, as he vacated his bastion, Hassan constituency, for grandson Prajwal Revanna this time. The seat has been allotted to JD(S) under the electoral arrangement between the party and its ally Congress.

Early life

A staunch crusader of socio-economic development, Deve Gowda was born on May 18, 1933 in Haradanahalli village of Holenarasipura taluk, Hassan District in Karnataka, in a Vokkaliga caste family.

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A Civil Engineering Diploma holder, he plunged into active politics at the early age of 20 when he joined the Congress in 1953. He remained a member of the Grand Old Party till 1962.

Political career

Coming from a middle-class agrarian background, he started his political journey from lower strata and ascended gradually. In 1962, at the age of just 28 years, the youthful Gowda contested as an Independent from Holenarasipura constituency and was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. After that, the leader did not look back.

In 1989, his group of the Janata Party fared poorly in Karnataka, winning just 2 of the 222 Assembly seats it contested, and he himself was defeated for the first time in his career, losing both constituencies he contested from.

In 1991, he was elected to Parliament from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency.

In 1994, he assumed office as the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka. He then contested as a candidate from Ramanagar Assembly constituency and won by a thumping majority.

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In 1996, he was appointed the 11th Prime Minister of India, heading the united front coalition of 14 parties backed by Congress and the Left from outside.

2019 Lok Sabha battle

For the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Deve Gowda will be contesting from Tumkur constituency. His nomination was mired in controversy as rebel Congress leader Muddahanume Gowda too filed his papers from the seat but later withdrew.

Tumakuru district comes under the Old Mysore region. A dryland region, the constituency is spread over 6,706 sq km. It had 15,94,703 registered voters, including 7,97,512 males and 7,97,191 females, till January 2019.

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