GOWDAS OF THE STUMP

There is another 123 ticking away down south. Karnataka is the only southern state where you have to count beyond two power blocs. And the post-poll deal could make the India’s nuclear agreement with the US look simple. In the event of a hung verdict, H D Deve Gowda’s little third party could play and outplay. Or so some assume. Banish all such assumptions—even that the Janata Dal(S) will only come in third. After the drubbing Mayawati gave pollsters and parachuting pundits, the maya in Indian elections is up there. So leave it to the veteran to figure things out.

“I’ve fought 13 elections and won 11. I know the mood of the people. We have a clear edge in these 89 constituencies,” says Deve Gowda, soon after campaigning concluded for the first of three phases. He sounds unusually confident on the phone. The voice matches the image—an equally unusual Gowda beaming from ear to ear on his party’s poll posters. Not the familiar resigned look, hesitant half-sentences and syllables on snooze mode. This first lot of constituencies is his stronghold. Is the seasoned player managing perceptions that should count in the next two polling phases?

“No, I say. Our party has made clear inroads into the northern districts as well. I’ve seen during my state-wide campaign how people reciprocate.”
To what?

Earlier in the day, people waited dutifully for some four hours for ‘the boy’. The gathering, a couple of thousands strong, sat back in plastic chairs under a huge shamiana that shielded them from the sun that was climbing. They had access to bottles of mineral water and refreshments from an adjoining eatery. And they had music.

Devotional melodies that extolled the virtues of the Gowda clan—which the songs aver is no one-man show. There is the paternal Senior Gowda, once PM, younger son Kumaraswamy, ex-CM, and elder brother Revanna, the key PWD minister in the...