Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar who passed away here at the age of 80, had maintained close association with Karnataka and its leaders for four decades.

Perhaps the most important incident that linked Mr Chandra Shekhar with Karnataka was making the late Ramakrishna Hegde the chief minister in a historic decision in 1983.

With three strong contenders in H D Deve Gowda, S R Bommai and S Bangarappa for the chief ministership, Chandra Shekhar, then the Janata Party president, made a phone call to the party office in Bangalore to decide in favour of Hegde, which took everyone by surprise.

Hegde, a rank outsider, became chief minister as a dark horse.

Important chapter

It was former minister B L Shankar who took that call in the party office. “Mr Chandra Shekhar, calling from Chennai, told me the decision.

I gave the phone to Gowda. And began an important chapter in the Karnataka state’s politics”, Shankar, perhaps closest of the Karnataka leaders to Mr Chandra Shekhar, told Deccan Herald this evening.

The former prime minister was close to the Janata parivar trio of Mr Hegde, Mr Gowda and Mr Bommai. He was instrumental in making Mr Hegde a Rajya Sabha member in 1978 in the face of opposition from then prime minister Mr Morarjee Desai wanted to bring in Veeredra Patil to the Upper House.

Just before Mr Chandra Shekhar proposed Mr Hegde’s name for chief ministership,  he had toured Karnataka extensively for his padayatra `to know the country better’.

Entering the state from Hosur, his padayatra touched Bangalore, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum and Nippani before reaching Maharashtra.

 “Mr Chandra Shekhar was very happy during those 36 days of padayatra in the state”, Shankar, who translated his Hindi and English speeches into Kannada during the entire visit, said.

The socialist leader’s first contact with the then Mysore state began in 1969-70 when he led a rally of textile workers in Gulbarga against the then Veerendra Patil government’s policies.

The rally led to a lathi charge in which the “Young Turk” got injured. The Gulbarga police filed criminal case against Chandra Shekhar because of which he had to visit Gulbarga many times to attend court cases. 

During the JP movement too, Chandra Shekhar visited Karnataka many times to organize people. It was during these visits that he came close to several leaders who were to later take over reigns in Karnataka. In the 1978 Assembly elections too, he campaigned intensely in the state. Later on, Janata leaders such as M P Prakash, Siddaramaiah, PGR Sindhia etc  became close to him.

Memorable days

Although his prime ministership was not memorable, some sections in Karnataka would remember him as it was his government which conferred scheduled tribe status to castes such as Nayaka, Pariwara, Uppara etc.

After he broke away from Janata Party, he headed Samajwadi Janata Party. Mr Gowda contested Lok Sabha byelection from this party and won in 1991 from Hassan.  Mr Chandra Shekhar’s association with Karnataka, however, reduced from then on.  Mr Shankar said

“It is a tragedy that a leader of such a stature and with such an experience was not part of mainstream parties.”
It was a loss not only to him but also to the nation”.