The Third Fronts first force

Even when his third son H D Kumaraswamy,now a torchbearer for the Third Front himself,seemingly shattered his ambitions through a 8216;forbidden8217; alliance with the Right-wing BJP to form a government in Karnataka in February 2006,Gowda continued to play cards that kept a remote Third Front dream alive.

Gowda kept the Left parties to whom he remained indebted for making him PM in 1996 in his good books by initially blaming the alliance with the BJP on his son,later saying it was inevitable only to finally make his peace.

When Gowda subsequently refused to transfer power to the BJP from the JDS and the then Karnataka chief minister Kumaraswamy in October 2007 despite a power-sharing agreement he is believed to have acted due to a renewed faith in the emergence of a Third Front based on his national calculations.

Among the key factors responsible for this in the latter half of 2007 were the results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections where Mayawati led the BSP to a thumping victory.

There was also growing evidence through this period that,as elections approached,the Left and the Congress-led UPA would eventually part ways over the Indo-US nuclear deal or otherwise.

The clincher to the current incarnation of the Third Front was,however,the July 2008 trust vote on the nuclear deal when the then fanciful United National Progressive Alliance got together with the Left parties and Mayawati to vote against the government. Gowda and Kumaraswamy also dashed to New Delhi to do a volte-face on the previously propagated pro-deal stance of the JDS.

Gowda and son can be seen peering proudly over Mayawatis shoulders in pictures of the fledgling Third Front captured at the time of the trust vote.

In a joint press conference with the BSP leader after the UPA passed the trust vote,Kumaraswamy,making his first major appearance on the national stage,said serious attempts were being made to forge a Third Front under Mayawati.

A month later,Gowda told reporters,I will stand by Mayawati if she becomes the leader of the Third Front. I have no reservations. I also dont dream of becoming prime minister again.

He also predicted,A force will definitely emerge against the Congress and the BJP. Some parties will join the force before the Lok Sabha elections,some after the polls.

Though there have been claims since August last year of a multi-party propaganda committee getting together to finalise a Third Front agenda,the loose alliance really came to the fore only in February this year when Gowda held meetings with the Left parties and announced plans to launch the Front from Karnataka.

According to Gowda,the logic of launching the Third Front from Karnataka stemmed from the fact that the BJP had come to power in the state for the first time. I suggested this to other leaders and all of them agreed to the idea of holding the launch event in Karnataka, he said.

Gowda has also cited the fact that the Janata Party was named in Bangalore after the revolutionary movement of Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s and the Janata Dals birth in Karnataka as reasons for launching the Third Front here.

The launch event was staged on March 12 in Tumkur,which is central to the south Karnataka belt where the Gowdas hold sway.

Despite the apparent discomfiture of the Left parties with the projection of Mayawati as the Third Front8217;s prime ministerial candidate,Gowda who has taken special delight in the BSP8217;s association with the Front has said nobody can stop her if she has the numbers.

Finally,what is in it for Gowda and his sons? Unlike in 1996,when the JDS fought with the support of a rainbow caste combination under multiple leaders to win 16 of 28 seats in Karnataka,the party is currently restricted to being the Gowdas show that is strong mostly in the southern Vokkaliga belt.

However,even a few seats and the right equations in the final tally can guarantee a foothold again in national politics for Gowda.

The elections are also seen as an opportunity to catapult the immense popularity of Kumaraswamy in the southern districts to a position of power at the Centre one that could allow the JDS to improve its slipping grasp on Karnataka.

Following in the footsteps of his late benefactor and veteran Marxist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet,Deve Gowda is in pure pragmatism mode. In the event of a good JDS performance,doors could be open to other alignments as well anything to rise from the ashes.