Nistula Hebbar: A shot at glory

BACKSTAGE

Out of his four sons, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda had envisioned political careers for two of them, Karnataka PWD Minister Revanna, and his third son Kumaraswamy. His original plan was for Revanna to be a strongman in Karnataka and for Kumaraswamy to be in national politics.

It seemed that his plan appeared to be working when Kumaraswamy, then a 35-year-old won a Lok Sabha election in 1996 from Kanakpura and became a Member of Parliament (MP). Fortunately or unfortunately, this was also the year that his father became the prime minister of India and, therefore, Kumaraswamy's first taste of active politics at 7 Race Course Road spoiled him for anything else. Kumaraswamy, a graduate, got his galloping ambition during his father's short-lived tenure but could not pick up on his father's shrewdness and politics of brinkmanship.

Kumaraswamy lost the subsequent Lok Sabha election in 1998 and the Assembly elections in 1999 from Hosanur. At this point, say those close to him, he started wavering in his chosen career. From 2000-2003, therefore, he involved himself with film distribution. Here, too, though, he kept a political role in various trade bodies in the industry.

His father, meanwhile, realised that the near-illiterate Revanna was not really an organisation man required to build the party in the state. Kumaraswamy was then brought back into the party fold as its working president. That is when he crossed paths with Siddharamaiah who he considered his main rival in Karnataka. The former deputy chief minister of Karnataka is charismatic, popular and has a mass base with his voters. It was a classic case of mass appeal versus pedigree and political legacy coming into conflict. Siddharamaiah was removed from the JD(S). The only thing Kumaraswamy did not count on was the Congress' apathy to him and his father, and its preference for Siddharamaiah.

The ambition, fired after he became one of the most powerful first time MPs in 1996, was now given full vent. Nobody knows for sure whether it is the hand of Gowda that is guiding his son to join hands with the BJP in what is increasingly being perceived as a sham rebellion by an ambitious father-son duo. At the age of 47, however, Kumaraswamy feels that his time has come.

Any number of well-wishers have been trying to convince Kumaraswamy that the JD(S) is facing political disaster by allying with the BJP. However, his father's brief tenure as prime minister still appears to be uppermost in his mind. He wants to be chief minister of Karnataka even if it is for a short while. Looking at his record so far, who knows he may not get another shot at the chance.