The rise of congress and its fall eluded my coverage thus far.
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For a reason.
Most of my contemporaries would have forgotten that the congress had its all india session in Bangalore in 1960, at Sadasivanagar.
The posh locality was formed after the session.
As a teenager I had the privilege of seeing Pandit Nehru passing in an open car near corporation.
Years later Queen Elizabeth too went in an open car on M.G.Road . Both of them had elegance , beauty and charm.
From 1960 to 1969 was but a progression of sorts .
But of a different kind.
S.Nijalingappa was the congress president and the AICC met in Lalbagh.
A day before that Indira Gandhi, The Prime Minister, had shared her stray thoughts on economy thru her close associates at the time, the young turks as they styled themselves.
Chandra sekhar and Mohan Dharia were the names I remember.
Enter the queen the next day and there was some commotion.
It may be relevant to recall the fact that the old guard including Kamaraj were trounced in the 1967 elections.
But the Organisation was in their grip .
It was Indira’s intention to assert her supremacy both in the party and the government.
The parliamentary party was to nominate the candidate for the post of President of India.
Indira’s views were virtually ignored and Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was chosen.
Minutes before emplaning for Delhi, Indira remarked , this is not how things are done.
The next step was to have a conscience candidate and V.V.Giri entered the scene.
And got elected too.
Thus was effected the great split, the old guard calling themselves Congress (O) and the New Congress (I).
Morarji Desai was eased out of the cabinet, banks were Nationalised, privy purses were abolished.
And Indira in her radical avatar trounced the opposition.
Power corrupts , and perhaps corruption is another face of power.
It all started in Gujarat , when student agitators rose against Chimanbai Patel.
It spread to Bihar where Jayaprakash Narain hails from.
There were calls to revolt and rebel . and the government said they had no choice but to impose some restrictions.
When the internal emergency was imposed a few leading lights of the opposition were in Karnataka.
L.K.Advani certainly, Vajpayee perhaps.
Among the state leaders arrested was Ramakrishna Hegde.
And at the fag end Devegowda.
I mention these details because they formed the base for important developments later.
Like , for instance, the formation of the first non-congress government , a coalition between Janata party and Karnataka Kranti Ranga headed by Bangarappa.
This did not last long .
When Indira was assassinated and Rajiv chose to go for polls, Ramakrishna Hegde also opted for fresh elections.
And against sympathy wave rode to power.
Again internal conflicts surfaced .
Hegde and Devegowda fell out.
And Congress was the gainer.
Still later when Janata dal was formed, they joined hands and had the party installed in power.
One remembers Devegowda keen on projecting Siddaramaiah as chief minister but J.D.Patil who was deputy chief minister got elevated.
This happened during the interrugnum when Devegoda , the chief minister, was to ascend the prime ministerial gadi.
Hegde had returned to Bangalore from Delhi when he came to know that Devegowd’s elevation was certain.
He had expressed some reservations also .
The first act of Prime Minister Devegowda was to prevail upon the Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav and expel Hegde from the party.
Hegde’s attempts to regain glory were thwarted but his personal image did endure as the leader who brought in meaningful changes to state polity.
Like Panchayat Raj.
#CONGRESS #DEVEGOWDA #Laloo prasad yadav #AICC #President of india
