Karnataka, unlike its neighbours Tamil Nadu and Kerala, is not a strictly bipolar State strictly in terms of its politics. The situation is not new; in the modern era, the Janata Dal (Secular) has had a considerable vote share since 1999, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress as the two principal players. However, a still earlier example comes from the 1978 election.
As far back as 45 years ago, when the State went to the polls to elect the Assembly, there was a widespread expectation that it would be a three-cornered contest leading to a spell of political instability, according to materials provided by The Hindu Archives.
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Surprising result
Only weeks prior to the date of polling in late February 1978, there was a vertical split in the Congress, with the Janata Party, then the ruling party at the Centre, making every effort to capture power in the southern State and shed its image of being a north India-centric entity. But the results surprised many, as the Congress (I) — as it was called on account of Indira Gandhi being its president — won a comfortable majority, winning 149 seats in a House of 224 and a vote share of 44.25%. The Janata Party, despite having stalwarts such as Veerendra Patil, Ramakrishna Hegde, S.R. Bommai, and H.D. Deve Gowda, could bag only 59 seats while the official Congress had to be content with a mere two seats.
As Ms. Gandhi was no longer Prime Minister, many were surprised. In the March 1977 Lok Sabha election, there had been a wave against her and her party across the country, especially in northern States, to the extent that she lost in her own constituency of Rae Bareli. Ten months later, she caused a split in the party, as she began to believe that the newly elected president of the party K. Brahmananda Reddy, along with the then-Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Y.B. Chavan, was isolating her politically.
Karnataka link
There was also a Karnataka connection. In September 1977, the official Congress leadership had sought to checkmate Ms. Gandhi’s key supporter and then-Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs, by appointing his known critic K.H. Patil as the chief of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. Three months later, Mr. Urs was first suspended from the party for his “anti-party activities” and his Ministry was later dismissed, with the dissolution of the Assembly and the imposition of President’s rule. The development took place on the eve of Indira Gandhi holding a two-day meet of her supporters in New Delhi to launch her own party on January 1 and 2, 1978. The Karnataka Assembly elections were held in 1978 with this backdrop. What was significant was that Congress (I) had the distinction of being the only party to make it to power in the State despite being formed close to the date of polling.
Be it then or subsequently, no other party — neither the JD(S), the Karnataka Congress Party floated by S. Bangarappa in 1994, or the Karnataka Janata Paksha run briefly by B.S. Yeddyurappa in 2013 — could match what the Congress (I) did in 1978. In fact, the performance of the three parties in question paled in comparison to that of the Congress (I). In hindsight, it can be argued that the vote base of the undivided Congress, as registered in the 1977 Lok Sabha poll, mostly got transferred to the Congress (I) in the 1978 Assembly election. It was another matter that the Congress (I) was, in no time, recognised as the Indian National Congress while the “official Congress’ withered away.
A sense of hope
The impressive showing of the Congress (I) had prompted Indira Gandhi to contest in and win the Chickmagalur (now called Udupi-Chikmagalur after the delimitation exercise in 2008) Lok Sabha byelection to be held later that year. Initially, many had given credit to the leadership of Mr. Urs for the spectacular results in the 1978 Assembly poll. But after the Lok Sabha election of January 1980, Mr. Urs, who had by then parted ways with Indira Gandhi, realised that the charisma of the former Prime Minister had been a major factor in Karnataka. It was no exaggeration to say that the success of the Congress (I) in the 1978 Assembly election in Karnataka and in undivided Andhra Pradesh had created a sense of hope among Indira Gandhi and her supporters about returning to power at the Centre, which eventually happened two years later.
Published - May 04, 2023 06:04 pm IST
