Ibrahim latest to challenge Deve Gowda family's dominance... and fail

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: J D(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda dismissing CM Ibrahim as the party’s state president reemphasizes the regional outfit being a de facto family enterprise.

Ibrahim had raised a banner of revolt because he wasn’t in favour of the party’s alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections, claiming that he was “the original JD(S)”.

Deve Gowda took the indirect route of dissolving the JD(S) state working committee, thereby dismissing Ibrahim. A new ad hoc state working committee was formed with HD Kumaraswamy as the new JD(S) Karnataka president.

Hegde ousted in 96’

The late former chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde had suffered a similar fate in 1996 and sitting CM Siddaramaiah had also been removed from the party under comparable circumstances in 2005.

Deve Gowda had prevailed upon then Janata Dal national president Lalu Prasad Yadav to expel Hegde. The former CM, feeling hard done by, had initially formed the organisation Rashtreeya Nava Nirmana Vedike, a body that did not contest elections.

He traveled the state but Gowda’s status as Vokkaliga mass leader in the Old Mysuru heartland ensured he received a frosty reception in the region.

By 1999, there had been a split in the Janata Dal with Deve Gowda forming Janata Dal (Secular) while former CMs Ramakrishna Hegde and JH Patel set up Janata Dal (United).

In the 1999 Assembly polls, JD(S) was shockingly reduced to only 10 seats down from 115 seats in the previous polls while JD(U) managed 18 seats. The Deve Gowda-led party managed to outlive Hegde’s but not without facing a major existential crisis first.

Siddu suffers similar fate

Just when you thought JD(S) was finished, Siddaramaiah emerged as the regional outfit’s popular state president, taking them to the high of 58 seats in the 2004 Assembly polls even though they had contested only 75 seats.

The resulting JD(S)-Congress coalition saw Dharam Singh take the reins as CM with Siddaramaiah as his deputy. The latter was miffed because Gowda had denied him the CM’s post despite then Congress president Sonia Gandhi approving his bid.

By 2005, Siddaramaiah, who comes from the Kuruba Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, took out rallies under the AHINDA (Kannada abbreviation of minorities, Backward Classes and Dalits) banner.

Deve Gowda, already wary of Siddaramaiah’s popularity, promptly sacked him. Interestingly, Ibrahim had been one of the leaders who had stuck with Siddaramaiah and joined Congress with him in 2006.