H. D. Deve Gowda facts for kids

Quick facts for kids H. D. Deve Gowda
Official portrait, 1996
Prime Minister of India
In office 1 June 1996 – 21 April 1997
President	Shankar Dayal Sharma
Vice President	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
Preceded by	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Succeeded by	Inder Kumar Gujral
Union Minister of Home Affairs
In office 1 June 1996 – 28 June 1996
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Murli Manohar Joshi
Succeeded by	Indrajit Gupta
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 June 2020
Preceded by	D. Kupendra Reddy
Constituency	Karnataka
In office 23 September 1996 – 2 March 1998
Preceded by	Leeladevi Renuka Prasad
Succeeded by	A. Lakshmisagar
Constituency	Karnataka
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 17 May 2004 – 23 May 2019
Preceded by	G. Puttaswamy Gowda
Succeeded by	Prajwal Revanna
Constituency	Hassan, Karnataka
In office 2 February 2002 – 16 May 2004
Preceded by	M. V. Chandrashekara Murthy
Succeeded by	Tejashwini Sreeramesh
Constituency	Kanakapura, Karnataka
In office 10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999
Preceded by	Rudresh Gowda
Succeeded by	G. Puttaswamy Gowda
Constituency	Hassan, Karnataka
In office 20 June 1991 – 11 December 1994
Preceded by	H. C. Srikantaiah
Succeeded by	Rudresh Gowda
Constituency	Hassan, Karnataka
Chief Minister of Karnataka
In office 11 December 1994 – 31 May 1996
Governor	Khurshed Alam Khan
Preceded by	Veerappa Moily
Succeeded by	Jayadevappa Halappa Patel
Member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly
In office 1994 (1994)–1996 (1996)
Preceded by	CM Lingappa
Succeeded by	CM Lingappa
Constituency	Ramanagara
In office 1962 (1962)–1989 (1989)
Preceded by	Y. Veerappa
Succeeded by	G. Puttaswamy Gowda
Constituency	Holenarasipur
President of Janata Dal (Secular)
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1999
Preceded by	Office established
Personal details
Born	(1933-05-18) 18 May 1933 (age 92) Haradanahalli, Kingdom of Mysore, British India (present-day Haradanahalli, Karnataka, India)
Political party	Janata Dal (Secular) (1999–present)
Other political affiliations	National Democratic Alliance (2007-08; 2023-present) Janata Dal (1990–1999) Janata Party (1977–1990) Indian National Congress (Organisation) (1972–1976) UOP (1976–1977) Indian National Congress (1953–1962)
Spouse	Chennamma ​ (m. 1954)​
Children	6 children; including H. D. Revanna and H. D. Kumaraswamy
Education	Diploma in Civil Engineering
Alma mater	L. V. Polytechnic, Hassan
Profession	Politician agriculturist civil engineer
Signature
Nicknames	Mannina Maga Dodda Gowdaru

Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (; born 18 May 1933) is an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of India from 1996 to 1997. He previously served as the Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996 and as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha. A member of the Janata Dal (Secular), he has been serving as the party's president since 1999 and has been Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka since 2020.

Born in a family of farmers, Deve Gowda joined the Indian National Congress in 1953 and remained a member until 1962. He became president of the state unit of the Janata Dal in 1994 and was considered to be a driving force in the party's victory in Karnataka. He served as the 8th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996. In the 1996 general elections, no party won enough seats to form a government and Deve Gowda was elected to serve as prime minister as head of the United Front coalition. His premiership lasted for less than a year and he left office in April 1997. After his prime ministerial tenure, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament until his defeat in 2019. Deve Gowda was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2020.

Early life and career

H. D. Deve Gowda was born on 18 May 1933 in Haradanahalli, a village in Holenarasipura Taluk, of the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore (now in Hassan, Karnataka). His father Dodde Gowda was a paddy farmer and mother, Devamma was a home maker.

Gowda earned a diploma in civil engineering from L. V. Polytechnic, Hassan, in the early 1950s.

Deve Gowda and Manmohan Singh

Deve Gowda joined the Indian National Congress party in 1953 and remained a member until 1962. During that period, he was President of Anjaneya Cooperative Society of Holenarasipura and later became a member of the Taluk Development Board of Holenarasipura.

State politics (1962–1996)

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 Assembly for six consecutive terms from 1962 to 1989. He joined the Congress (O) during the Congress split. He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly from March 1972 to March 1976 and from November 1976 to December 1977. During the Emergency in the 1970s, he was imprisoned in the Bangalore Central Jail.

Later, Deve Gowda served as the two-time president of the state unit of the Janata Party. He served as a minister in the Janata Party Government in Karnataka headed by Ramakrishna Hegde from 1983 to 1988. When V.P. Singh joined Janata Dal, Subramanian Swamy formed Janata Party (Jaya Prakash) faction, and Deve Gowda joined him to become Janata Party (JP)'s Karnataka President. He was later defeated from Holenarasipur in 1989, and soon later rejoined Janata Dal. He became president of the state unit of the Janata Dal in 1994 and led the party to victory in the 1994 State Assembly elections. He was elected from the Ramanagara, and sworn in as the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka in December.

As chief minister, Gowda toured Switzerland and attended the Forum of International Economists. His tour to Singapore brought in foreign investment to the State. He resigned from the position to serve as prime minister following his appointment in 1996.

Prime Minister (1996–1997)

Following the 1996 general elections, P. V. Narasimha Rao government was defeated with no other party winning 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 and CPI(M), Deve Gowda was unexpectedly chosen to head the government after V. P. Singh and Jyoti Basu declined. He was sworn-in as the 11th Prime Minister of India in June 1996 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in September 1996 during his tenure as prime minister. During his tenure, he served as the Home Minister and as the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the United Front, the policy-making committee consisting of other coalition party leaders. He is credited for providing financial closure and kickstarting development of the Delhi Metro Project. He left office on 21 April 1997 after the Congress revoked its support for Gowda amidst discontent over communication between the coalition and the Congress. It compromised to support a new government under I. K. Gujral, who served as the prime minister from 21 April 1997 to 19 March 1998.

Post-premiership (1997–present)

Devegowda c. 2015

He was defeated in the 1999 general elections. He was elected president of the Janata Dal (Secular) the same year.

The 2004 Karnataka state elections witnessed the revival of his party's fortunes under the leadership of Siddaramaiah with the Janata Dal (Secular) winning 58 seats and becoming a part of the ruling coalition in the state. Later, the party joined with the BJP and formed another government in 2006. Deve Gowda's son, H. D. Kumaraswamy, headed the BJP-JD(S) coalition government in the state for 20 months. The alliance was defeated in 2008. B. S. Yediyurappa was elected as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Deve Gowda verbally abused Yediyurappa. This event was termed as a "new low in Indian politics". Deve Gowda later apologised for hurling abuse at him.

Deve Gowda expelled Siddaramaiah and CM Ibrahim from the JD(S) in 2005. Later, both Siddaramaiah and CM Ibrahim joined the Indian National Congress, which won the 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election, with Siddaramaiah being elected as the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Deve Gowda contested the 2019 general elections against G. S. Basavaraj in Tumkur Lok Sabha constituency of Karnataka. G. S. Basavaraj, BJP candidate of Tumkur Constituency won against Deve Gowda by a margin of 13,339 votes. G. S. Basavaraj polled 596,127 votes while Deve Gowda got 582,788 votes. He has been elected to Rajya Sabha.

Personal life

He married Chennamma in 1954. They have six children together: four sons, including politicians H. D. Revanna and H. D. Kumaraswamy, who is the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, and two daughters. He is the father-in-law of politician Anitha Kumaraswamy and grandfather of actor Nikhil Kumaraswamy, politicians Prajwal Revanna and Suraj Revanna.

Electoral history

Positions held

See also

In Spanish: H. D. Deve Gowda para niños

• List of prime ministers of India
• List of chief ministers of Karnataka