"With Gowda, that was not the case. He had to literally cycle his way up"

When S.M. Krishna, (a former CM of Karnataka, and former Union External Affairs Minister of India) spearheaded J. F. Kennedy’s Presidential Campaign in Texas, US, as a Fulbright Scholar

The Veerappan Crisis | Cauvery Water Dispute

#memoriesfromdiaries

#newspaperinlearning

4th January 1994

[This day, 32 years ago, from my personal diary entry]

This particular day’s newsworthy events that went on to create history, are as follows. 

In fact, a slew of books were also written on the sagas that happened this particular day, and a few movies and documentaries as well!

Firstly, the stunning episode of a Deputy Chief Minister (S. M. Krishna) openly revolting against the Chief Minister (Veerappa Moily) in Karnataka, on 3rd January 1994, giving alarming signals to their Congress PM Rao, at the centre, that the Moily government had lost the support of its own cabinet members and legislators.

This internal rift severely weakened the Congress party, as the state had three Chief Minister in a span of five years (Veerendra Patil, Bangarappa, Moily) contributing significantly to their crushing defeat in the December 1994 Assembly elections, where the Janata Dal led by H.D. Deve Gowda swept to power. (Gowda later went on to become the Prime Minister of the Nation)

From a whopping 178 seats in the 1989 elections, the Congress could muster only 34 seats in the 1994 Assembly elections, because of the internal power struggles within the party.

As for Deve Gowda, it was a landslide victory, from 24 (in 1989) to 115 seats (in 1994). The BJP had also increased their numbers tenfold, from 4 to 40, thus becoming the main opposition party for the first time.

Wait! So what was the impact of S.M. Krishna’s revolt in the Congress party?

Well, five years later, at the end of Gowda’s rule, in the 1999 Assembly Elections, Krishna swept to power and emerged as the Chief Minister with 132 seats.

S.M. Krishna’s tenure as Chief Minister of Karnataka (1999–2004) is widely regarded as a period of significant modernisation and urban transformation!

He was instrumental in building “Brand Bengaluru” and is hence called the “Architect of Modern Bengaluru.”

His higher studies abroad, in the U.S. as a Fulbright Scholar, brought a global perspective to governance. He capitalised on the digital boom, and positioned Bengaluru as India’s Silicon Valley, attracting tech giants like Infosys and Wipro. He was instrumental in developing Electronic City as a premier IT destination.

However, two important crises marked his tenure.

The Veerappan Crisis in the year 2000, when the forest brigand Veerappan kidnapped the legendary Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar, and kept him hostage for a record 108-day hostage.

The Cauvery Water Dispute, and its fallout that had severe repercussions in Tamil Nadu as well. For that incident, you may want to read our past post HERE.

Interestingly, all three Chief Ministers of Karnataka (mentioned above) have written about their experiences in their respective memoirs / autobiographies / biographies.

S.M. Krishna’s autobiography titled, Smriti Vahini, details on the Karnataka Political life, and National politics as well.

Giving three interesting titbits –

“The 1994 result was not a victory for the Janata Dal as much as it was a punishment for the Congress. We had tested the patience of the Kannadiga voter for too long with our musical chairs of Chief Ministers,” writes Krishna.

When, as a Fulbright scholar, he had the opportunity to study law in Texas. While in Texas, in September 1960, Krishna had written a note to John F. Kennedy, who was running for presidency, expressing his desire to run his poll campaign in localities that had sizeable population of Indians. Kennedy obliged.

“Kennedy, like Nehru, liked to mingle with the common man. He gave priority to development and social justice. After he won, Kennedy sent me a letter to thank me,” recalls Krishna, who considered Kennedy his political guru.

In yet another instance, he talks about the caustic infighting in Congress –

“In the Congress of those days, one did not need enemies from the outside; there were enough within to ensure a downfall.”

Veerappa Moily, who was the bete noire of S.M. Krishna also wrote a book titled, The Flaming Tresses of Draupadi in which he reimagines the Mahabharata through the eyes of Draupadi, presenting her not as a victim, but as a revolutionary force of “Dharma.”

Moily gives Draupadi a voice that challenges the entire court of elders, I quote –

“Sri Krishna, I am being put through an ordeal; the foolish acts of your cousins are burning me up. Save me from these wicked ones who are stripping me of the cloth I am clad in! You alone can save me, the savior of the helpless; If I lose my honour, can I stay alive?”

While this is a work of literature (an epic based on the Mahabharata), Moily has often stated in interviews that his writings on power, betrayal, and justice have been influenced by his own political experiences, blaming “vested interests” and internal sabotage for the shocking 1994 defeat.

Deve Gowda’s autobiography is titled, Agni Divya which literally translates to Trial by Fire.

Note: I couldn’t find any references or e-resources or e-retailers selling the book, except for The Hindu newspaper’s news report on the release of the book in December 2018.  When I further probed into the matter, I got some surprising information.

While this book was personally recorded and compiled by his daughter, Shylaja Chandrashekar, and his close associate Y.S.V. Datta, its wide commercial release was overshadowed by a more comprehensive project (done with the full cooperation of Deve Gowda himself), titled, Furrows in a Field: The Unexplored Life of H.D. Deve Gowda in November 2021, by Penguin Random House.

Giving one inspiring snippet from the book –

Gowda was the ultimate outsider to every pattern and structure that existed in politics in India till he became prime minister.

Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi who came later had similar backgrounds, but Singh, who was self-made, had received the finest education and was a technocrat. He was not a political man. 

In fact, he (Singh) was defeated in the only election he contested. In the case of Modi, he was made by one of the world’s largest non-governmental organizations with committed cadres and fellow travellers - the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP.

With Gowda, that was not the case. He had to literally cycle his way up. Before he became a legislator in 1962, he was known as a ‘bicycle man’ in Holenarasipur. After he was denied a ticket by the Congress, he had contested as an independent with the bicycle as his election symbol and had to wait for 21 long years to become a minister for the first time.

Gowda always thought he was a work in progress.

Gowda was not privileged like Nehru or Indira. He did not have the academic learning of Singh. He perhaps had the cunningness of P.V. Narasimha Rao, but certainly not his network, experience and cultural capital.

He was not from within the Congress system or had a privileged caste background like Lal Bahadur Shastri. He was not a maharaja like V.P. Singh. He was not Chandra Shekhar with wide exposure to national politics. He was not entrenched in Lutyens’ Delhi like Gujral.

He did not have the verbal sophistication of a Vajpayee. He, however, absorbed the elements of Morarji to speak one’s mind with brutal nakedness,

observes his biographer.

Now, for the second most important news of the day –

The uproar in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on 3rd January 1994, was a defining moment in the historic stand-off between then-Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and Governor Dr. M. Channa Reddy.

The chaos erupted when the Governor arrived to deliver his customary address to the House. Jayalalithaa viewed Governor Channa Reddy as an agent of the Centre who was actively trying to destabilise her government.

As an immediate fall-out of this epic clash between the governor and the Chief Minister, the Tamil Nadu government passed a bill in 1994 to strip the Governor of the power to appoint Vice-Chancellors and to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of state universities.

Although the Jayalalithaa government passed the Bill, the path to implementation was blocked by the Governor.

Since, under the Indian Constitution, for a Bill to become an Act, it requires the assent of the Governor, Channa Reddy naturally refused to sign it. He argued that, having a political head as the Chancellor would lead to political interference and risk the loss of University Grants Commission (UGC) funding.

And because the Governor did not send it to the President for approval, the Bill eventually lapsed!

It is quite interesting to note that history repeated itself nearly 30 years later.

In 2022, the DMK government under Mr. MK Stalin passed the same Bill to transfer the power of appointing Vice-Chancellors from the Governor to the State Government.

And much akin to 1994, these recent Bills faced significant delays at the Raj Bhavan. In late December 2025, President Droupadi Murmu returned the University of Madras (Amendment) Bill to the Tamil Nadu Assembly without granting assent, following concerns about its consistency with UGC regulations.

Source: The Week, The Hindu, The Times of India and Deve Gowda’s Official Biography titled, Furrows in a Field.