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The Rediff Election Interview/ Ramakrishna Hegde

'Gowda's Janata Dal will disappear after the Lok Sabha elections'

H e has always been a schemer in politics. Taking sweet revenge has been his passion. Thus, it came as no surprise when Lok Shakti president and Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde finally acted against his bete noire, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. In a swift move, Hegde, with the help of Samata Party president and Defence Minister George Fernandes, got Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel to ally his faction of the Janata Dal with the National Democratic Alliance.

But having cornered Gowda, Hegde is in a fix these days.

For, there is considerable trauma and deep resentment within the Lok Shakti rank and file over the alliance. Hegde's followers accuse him of allowing JD-U leaders ride roughshod over them by denying tickets to several of their own deserving candidates. Several Lok Shakti leaders have now parted company with Hegde in frustration. The Lok Shakti state unit president Jeevaraj Alva broke down and wept last week at Hegde's residence when he failed to procure tickets for his close party associates.

As rebellion in his party increases, Hegde talked to George Iype on the new political equations.

Why did you suddenly decide to merge your party with the Janata Dal-U?

It was not a sudden idea. It was a well-thought out strategy to widen the National Democratic Alliance. For the past six months, George Fernandes, Naveen Patnaik, M Karunanidhi and me have been discussing various possibilities to reduce the number of coalition partners in the NDA. We found that the coming together of the erstwhile Janata units as one single bloc was the best political solution to save Janata the Dal from disintegration.

Your solution has not saved the Janata Dal, but split it. Moreover, the Janata Dal led by Deve Gowda is also equally strong.

Those who did not want to merge with us and be part of the NDA were not included. The Janata Dal led by Gowda will disappear after the Lok Sabha elections.

Wasn't your interest really to settle scores with Gowda?

I never settle scores with my fellow politicians. In fact, it was Gowda who threw me out soon after he became prime minister in 1996. If I had played the cheap politics that Gowda is famous for, his Janata Dal should have vanished much before. My idea was to integrate all the splinter groups and include them in the NDA for the smooth functioning of the BJP-led coalition at the Centre.

But your decision, instead of helping the BJP, only upset the party leaders including Prime Minister Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani.

Our idea was never to harm the BJP. There were some misunderstandings and communication gaps between us and the BJP initially. We have now settled the minor problems that arose after JD-U was included in the NDA. In fact, the BJP is aware that whatever advantage it had in the previous Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka was due to my party's association with it.

Isn't it ironic that you have joined hands with Patel who has been abusing you till the other day?

In politics, abusing is a normal phenomenon. Yes, Patel has abused me and I have abused him. The BJP has also abused Patel. But now we all have come together for a lasting political friendship.

But your own party workers are angry at you that the BJP and JD-U have taken the Lok Shakti for a ride. Few seats have been allocated for your party to fight the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Karnataka.

I agree that some of my party colleagues are angry and upset. But that happens during all mergers in politics. There should be a give and take attitude, especially when we are part of a coalition. So I think the problem within my party is minor and I am convincing my colleagues why we have gone for a tie-up with the Janata Dal.

Your party leaders and BJP workers also find themselves in a dilemma during the election campaigning. Till the other day, all of you were criticising the Patel government for its bad and terrible rule in the past five years. All of a sudden, you have to praise and support the Patel government.

I am not saying that Patel's five years of governance were glorious. There were many shortcomings which we have pointed out and will continue to point out also. In politics, personal enmity and friendship have nothing to do with a state's development.

Will the Lok Shakti-Samata Party-Janata Dal combine remain as a pressure group within the NDA, if Vajpayee comes back to power after elections?

Our idea was to unify ideologically like-minded groups and parties. We have never intended it to be a pressure group to harass the Vajpayee government. We will only try to strengthen the coalition and the Vajpayee government.

The Rediff Election Interviews

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