At 87 years of age, JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda is all set to enter the Rajya Sabha for the second time, as all four candidates from Karnataka are most likely to be elected unopposed on June 19.
Gowda is not the consensus candidate of either the Congress or the BJP, but the BJP, with 117 votes, nominated only two candidates and the Congress party, with 68 votes, abstained from fielding a second candidate, paving the way for Deve Gowda. Both the national parties have indirectly helped the JD(S) wrest a seat.
The JD(S), with just 34 votes (MLAs), could not have won the seat on its own. So, it adopted the wait-and-watch policy, while hinting that Deve Gowda might contest the Rajya Sabha elections. The strategy seems to have worked well for the regional party as both the BJP and the Congress party are likely to transfer their surplus votes to elect Deve Gowda, the tallest leader from the dominant Vokkaliga community.
The Congress party has nominated veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who had lost the May 2019 Parliament elections from Kalaburagi. The BJP central leadership sprang a surprise by nominating two party workers—Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti—despite hectic lobbying by senior leaders.
Deve Gowda, who filed his nomination on Tuesday, thanked both the national parties, but clarified he had "not approached" any of them seeking their support.
"I had resolved to focus on building my party. But my party leaders took an unanimous decision at the JDLP meeting held on June 5 to nominate me," said Deve Gowda, soon after filing his Rajya Sabha nomination at the Vidhana Soudha. The first time Gowda had entered the Rajya Sabha was in 1996, as the 11th prime minister of India.
During the press meet, Deve Gowda recalled that after he lost the May 2019 Parliament elections from Tumkur, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had called him to express her disappointment over his defeat.
"She told me I would be missed in the Parliament. This time, Kumaraswamy spoke to AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge K.C. Venugopal and indicated the party was nominating me for Rajya Sabha. Venugopal suggested I should speak to Sonia Gandhi. I called her on Saturday and told her about my nomination. She told me her party would support me," said Gowda, hinting that his party had no talks with the state Congress leaders in this regard.
The JD(S) had adopted a similar strategy of bypassing the state Congress leaders while taking major decisions during the JD(S)-Congress coalition government's tenure.
Deve Gowda filed his nomination, accompanied only by JD(S) members including his sons H.D. Revanna and H.D. Kumaraswamy, state party president H.K. Kumaraswamy and MLC Saravana, even as the state Congress chose to keep mum over the issue.
"Many leaders from the Leftist parties told me they wanted to see me back in the Parliament. I have always stood firm on my secular beliefs and have suffered many defeats. But I will fight to strengthen the secular forces," said Deve Gowda.
Kumaraswamy, who had earlier ruled out Deve Gowda contesting in the Rajya Sabha polls, said his father would never seek "back-door entry" into the Parliament.
Kumaraswamy recently tweeted, "Former PM @H_D_Devegowda have decided to contest the Rajya Sabha elections at the request of party legislators, @INCIndia Sonia Gandhi Ji and several national leaders."
Kumaraswamy also added it had not been easy to persuade Deve Gowda.
