H. D. Deve Gowda

Prime Minister of India (1996-1997)

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Born 1933 · age 93India

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Age
93
Born 1933

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He held India's top job for 11 months in 1996–97, a coalition prime minister in an era when no party could govern alone. Now the sole surviving former PM after Manmohan Singh's death in 2024.

Biography

About

Born 18 May 1933 into a farming family, Deve Gowda joined the Indian National Congress in 1953 and left nine years later. He rose through Karnataka politics, taking over the state Janata Dal in 1994 and steering the party to victory that year. He served as chief minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996. When the 1996 general elections produced a hung parliament, he was tapped to lead the United Front coalition as prime minister — a post he held for just under a year before stepping down in April 1997. He returned to the Lok Sabha as an MP, lost his seat in 1999 and again in 2019, then moved to…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from H. D. Deve Gowda

H. D. Deve Gowda

said28 Mar 2014

I have to lead my party from the front. I love meeting people and this happens only during elections.

— In: Shyam Sundar Vattam At 81, Gowda Lives on Ragi Mudde on the Campaign Trail, The New Indian Express, 28 March 2014

H. D. Deve Gowda

said2008

Having a good and cultured family background was not enough to be successful in politics. One should live amidst farmers, till land, and tend cows and buffaloes.

— In: Gopal K. Kadekodi, et al., Development in Karnataka: Challenges of Governance, Equity, and Empowerment, Academic Foundation, 2008 P.98

H. D. Deve Gowda

said27 Jul 2003

I may be a sleeping politician. But one should know that a sleeping politician is always awake about national politics.

— In: Gowda upset over seeing his sleeping photo, The Times of India, 27 July 2003

H. D. Deve Gowda

said2 Feb 1998

I don't want to make general remarks. I don't want to make sweeping remarks about the media. In my country the media can play its own role. Freedom of press is there.

— In: R R Nair The Rediff Election Interview/H D Deve Gowda, rediff.com, 2 February 1998

H. D. Deve Gowda

said1997