In the elections being held in the State, it is H.D.Deve Gowda and his family who are on trial. In an election without major issues or a wave in favour of anyone, the people of the State are voting whether the "No. 1 political family as also the most hated family" of the State was in the wrong in denying support to the BJP government led by B.S.Yeddyurappa which had the shortest life in the political history of the State.

Both the BJP and the Congress are targeting the Gowda clan as both of them have grievances galore against it. Both the Congress and the BJP have suffered at the hands of the political family and feel betrayed. The man on the street especially in our cities and towns speaks with derision about Deve Gowda and heaps invectives on him. However undaunted by the criticism of treachery and fooling the BJP , Gowda has continued to maintain that it was the State BJP leaders who are to blame for the JD (S) decision not to hand over the chief ministership and later denying support to the Yeddyurappa government.

The dissolved 12th Legislative Assembly witnessed the smallest of the three major political groups dictating terms to the other two. Gowda has been maintaining that the rivalry among BJP leaders, between Yeddyurappa and Ananth Kumar, brought about the termination of the BJP-JD (S) coalition. He has also maintained in a television interview that at one time (August 2005) Yeddyurappa who was desperate to come to power had offered to join the JD (S) if he was appointed as a minister. He had sent the former minister Ramachandra Gowda and Shoba Kadandlaje to him to broker a deal. In the interview Gowda referred to the latter as a "lady by the name" indicating that he does not attach much importance to her. Gowda is not wrong in what he said.

It is the BJP which has the higher share of grievances against Gowda. It is noteworthy that the Congress hardly mourned the fall of the Dharam Singh led coalition in January 2006 .It might be because though Singh had the blessings of Sonia Gandhi, some of the State leaders had not taken kindly to his heading the government. The results of the elections will show whether the people endorse the BJP's cry of having been cheated.

The BJP cannot escape blame for the end of the marriage. The marriage was wrecked by tainted leaders like Janardhan Reddy and B.Sriramulu from Bellary District in the Party. Both of them did not deserve the positions they got. It was a wonder that the BJP-JD (S) coalition lasted for 15 months after Reddy's allegation of bribe taking against Kumaraswamy, the former deputy chief minister M.P.Prakash and the former minister for Mines and Geology Channigappa. An agitated Reddy repeating the allegation in the Legislative Council which was shown live by TV channels is still fresh in many a mind. Sriramulu, who was by no means Cabinet minister material, lodged an attempt to murder complaint against his own chief minister with the Bellary police. Thus Deve Gowda and his sons are not without a defence while speaking against the BJP.

What is saddening for those watching the political happenings in the State, is that Karnataka has emerged as a politically backward State and become a byword for perfidy. Even States like Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar have scored over us when it comes to political conduct.

Whether one likes it or not , the Deve Gowda family has been dominating Karnataka politics atleast from 1994 when Gowda became the chief minister. Whatever misgivings one might have about recognizing Kumaraswamy as a leader in his own right, without Deve Gowda, he will be out of the reckoning though he might have led the State for 20 months. Gowda has achieved what none of his predecessors as chief minister could –get their sons or daughters sworn in as heads of government. Except for the Nehru-Indira Gandhi family at the national level, there are not many parallels in the States either, though dynastic rule is the order of the day in most political parties. In Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah had his son Dr.Farooq and a son-in-law G.M.Shah crowned as chief minister (the latter had rebelled against the dynasty and snatched the crown in true Mughal style). The other two father and son duos to become chief ministers were Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla and Shyama Charan Shukla in Madhya Pradesh and Biju Patnaik and Navin Patnaik in Orissa. However in those States the sons became chief ministers long after their fathers had passed away. No doubt there is the better known case of Lalu Prasad Yadav anointing his wife Rabri Devi as chief minister. In Tamil Nadu, Janaki Ramachandran had succeeded her husband M.G.Ramachandran only to be removed by Jayalalithaa.

Another record of the Gowda family is that two of its sons (Kumaraswamy and Revanna) were members of the same Cabinet. It was the 1972 elections which saw Deve Gowda emerge as a frontline politician of the State. He became the leader of the opposition (Congress-Organisation). Though it was rumoured that he enjoyed good relations with the Congress chief ministers especially R.Gundu Rao, he avoided the temptation to join that party. He went to jail during the days of the Emergency. Another of his plus points was that he remained with the Janata Party in the sixth Assembly (1978-83) amidst large scale defections to the Congress after Devaraj Urs ministry fell and Gundu Rao became the chief minister. 46 out of the 59 Janata MLAs defected and they included J.H.Patel (he however did not join the Congress), Jeevaraj Alva, C.M.Ibrahim, Pramila Nesargi and G.Made Gowda.

Though one is aware that many are touchy about any praise of Deve Gowda at all times as many detest him, he held on to the Samajawadi Janata Party formed in 1989 and went on  to head the Janata Dal government in 1994. It was dame luck in the form of the historic blunder committed by the Marxists in not permitting Jyoti Basu to become the prime minister, which made Deve Gowda the head of the Government of India. Many journalists continue to write about the "Karnataka farmer" as "former prime minister" though he held office for only ten months.  Gowda has survived perhaps the largest number of allegations of corruption against him. Will he and his Party retain their position is to be seen.