To his critics, former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda has converted the Janata Dal (S) into his fiefdom and more so after he was re-elected party national president and son, H.D. Kumaraswamy state unit president. But if you meet him, he will take pains to convince you why he is not what his critics say. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, after attending a seminar on the Cauvery row, Mr Gowda attended a brainstorming session with party leaders at the JD(S) office before returning home for an interview. Skipping his lunch, this eighty-four-year-old leader relished a cup of butter milk to take a volley of questions while reminiscing on the past and returning to the present to explain what his strategy would be for the 2018 assembly polls. In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Mr Gowda at least three times stressed that he had committed himself to the public cause and had never been diverted from his objective. Here are excerpts from the interview.
Congratulations on your election as JD (S) national president..
What can we do sir? Ours is a regional party. It is no big deal for me personally.
How will your election as national president and Mr Kumaraswamy’s as party state president help re-build the party in the state?
At present, our focus is on Karnataka. I am not going to enter UP which is going to elections in a few months from now. We are there in Kerala and Maharashtra. We are part of the government in Kerala. Compared to other coalition partners, our ministers in Kerala have performed really well. I am happy. We made some in-roads in Maharashtra. We have party units everywhere. In one of the town municipalities, we won 11 out of 17 seats. In the direct election held to the mayor’s post, we won. It shows the party is regaining ground slowly in spite of the fight with NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena. This election of me and Kumaraswamy was part of the exercise we did as per EC guidelines. We finished this exercise before the EC deadline concluded. Let me be frank with you. I am 84 and wanted to hand over the baton to someone else. I consulted Kerala and Maharashtra units. What they told me was: You have two-and-a-half years left as MP. As per the party constitution, the next election of national president will be held after five years. So, as a former PM and MP, you have a lot of clout and should continue as national president. Since he (Kumaraswamy) is a former CM, they wanted him to continue.
Your plans for the future..
First, we will announce office bearers for the state and national unit. Before doing this, we will examine which community benefited last time in the districts, who remained with us and who was committed. Based on these inputs we will finalise the office bearers. Then we will constitute teams. One will be led by me and the other by Mr Kumaraswamy and we will tour the state. Once we return, we will sit together and assess the strength of our party at the grassroots. I told my party workers to enrol at least 25,000 new members in each assembly segment. The money collected from the new members should be deposited. This money will be given to candidates contesting elections for the deposit amount.
You have made Basavaraj Horatti working president. One can understand this. But B.M. Farook’s appointment may rankle your party MLAs.
No, not at all. He is running several institutions, doing philanthropic activities. From the profit he gets from his company, he has set aside money for this, built a trust for this. I went and attended several functions. (pauses) For me he is important. Because Zameer (Ahmed Khan)and (Iqbal) Ansari have left, Mr Farook is a force to reckon with. He has already organised a big rally in Mangaluru and is planning to hold one in Kodagu. He did not run away after he lost the RS polls.
Why did Zameer and Ansari leave?
No, I do not want to comment on that.
Do you think the CM’s plan to increase reservation to 70 per cent and give internal reservation will impact your plan?
No, it will not damage my party. I do not want to comment about the 70 per cent reservation proposal. See, to bring internal reservation within reservation, no Constitutional amendment is required. When Devraj Urs was CM, I was the opposition leader. He would attack me asking if a party of Vokkaligas and Lingayats can come to power? Who was behind giving reservation to the Valmiki community? Whoever I groomed whether they remember me, that is not the issue. I will tell you an incident. Late Chandrashekharji when he became Prime Minister, called me and said he wanted to make me a minister in his cabinet. Devi Lalji said he would make me a RS member from Haryana. After losing the parliament polls, should I go and stand before a MP who defeated me? I said no but proposed names of upcoming leaders from different communities for chairmen posts of boards and corporations. Two came through. I told Devi Lalji that if you help with these appointments, I will come back (to power). That’s how I encouraged different microscopic minorities. Now, this is going to be a testing period.. whether what I did for Karnataka will be repaid (by making Janata Dal (Secular) come to power in 2018). God will decide.
Moving on, the House Committee on NICE misappropriations has submitted its report, what is your reaction?
(Takes a deep breath) Frankly I have not gone through the report. So I can’t comment in detail. But, what I can say at this point is: All this while, everyone was saying I had indulged in personals attacks and there was no substance in my allegations. At least now, I can say there is god. The House committee has corroborated my views.
The report spoke about then urban development minister (D.K. Shivakumar) who is also a minister in the present government. What do you have to say?
(Smiles) I will react in detail once I go through it. On this issue, I had made so many requests to then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and incumbent PM Narendra Modi. Nobody bothered to do anything. My concern was: hundreds of innocent farmers were cheated which I can’t sit back quietly and watch. They (promoters of NICE) tried to lure me. I took a principled stand and said, ‘No.’ I have never done anything for my personal benefit in life as I am committed to the masses.
Finally, have you finished your autobiography? When is it coming out?
It is almost over. Some have suggested that it should be released any day after January 15 (after Sankranti as it is considered auspicious). Others felt it could be done coinciding with my birthday which is in May. It will be in both English and Kannada.
