Gowda gearing up for Operation topple Patel8217;

Gowda has decided to camp in Bangalore for at least 10 days from April 20 while his two politician sons, Housing Minister Revanna and former MP Kumaraswamy are making necessary arrangements to topple Patel government. Kumarswamy has already dispatched his workers to a few districts to elicit response from the JD partymen over likely change in the leadership in Karnataka. 8220;In casethere is a change in the leadership, they should stand by Gowda,8221; workers are being told.

Having been totally isolated by the state Janata Dal, Gowda is now trying to regain control over the state party. Patel8217;s decision to reshuffle his ministry by May 18 and his keenness to rebuild the party by giving a free hand to Shankar has irritated Gowda. It has now become clear that the present State party leadership does not care much for Gowda, who is also being accused of liquidating the party at the national level.

The decision of his two sons to reject any responsibility entrusted by the State party to rejuvenate it has not surprised the party bosses.

Kumaraswamy8217;s resignation from the post of party general secretary on the advise of Gowda as claimed by Gowda himself has only confirmed that Gowda and his sons feel insecure and are cut up with the party.

It is understood that Gowda is upset over the way state JD leadership has been keeping him out of party matters. 8220;All Gowda wants is the control ofthe State Janata Dal unit,8221; said a senior party man.

Revanna and Kumaraswamy8217;s indifferent attitude towards the party activities and Gowda8217;s autocratic style of functioning have already angered many party seniors. Many feel fear that the Janata Dal might meet the fate of National Janata Dal if things were left to Gowda.

The two brothers, it is understood, have been asked by Gowda to step up the dissident activities and work for toppling of the Patel Government by the May end, if possible before Patel could reshuffle his ministry.

Patel who himself heard these rumours from some partymen, has expressed displeasure about such actions not befitting the stature of Deve Gowda. He, in fact, recently confronted H D Kumaraswamy and told him that he was very upset over such cheap conduct by Gowda and his family members. However, Kumarswamy is understood to have pleaded ignorance about such rumours.After having failed in his attempts to woo Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar to replace Patel by projecting him as thenew leader, Gowda, to some extent, has now succeeded in moving closer to Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who has been openly criticising Gowda for his actions.

Though there is no love lost between Gowda and Siddaramaiah, they have moved closer by compulsion. Siddaramaiah feels let down by Gowda when the latter did not fulfill his promise to make him the next CM after Deve Gowda became the PM. Subsequently, Deve Gowda failed to topple Patel and make Siddaramaiah the CM. These two instances distanced the two leaders.

Sources close to Siddaramaiah said the deputy chief minister had not totally moved towards Gowda but was keeping his options open. Since the JD was in a bad shape and chances of returning to power in the next polls were remote, Siddaramaiah might not like to take any chances. 8220;We have still 20 months to go in for the polls and going by the party infighting, anything was possible in the coming months,8221; said a legislator close to Siddaramaiah.