Sadanada Gowda's family and friends wait for his arrival at home

It rained as BS Yeddyurappa walked to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation. It rained as Santosh N Hegde stepped out of Lokayukta office for the last time. And it was raining again as I waited for chief minister-elect Sadananda Gowda to arrive at his humble rented home in Rajajinagar.

Rains seem to be harbingers of political changes this season in Karnataka. Time alone will tell what positive changes the chief minister-elect would bring to the state. But already, the quiet lanes of Rajajinagar, 3rd Stage, Block A were witnessing changes.

As the evening set in, barricades blocked a stretch of 8th Main where the next chief minister of the state is going to live with his wife Datty and son Karthik. Police personnel made their presence felt at the entry points to this road.

But it was no big surprise for the neighbours. They had seen it on TV screens.

However, for 6-year-old Aaron, it was something new. He was thrilled to know that the ‘uncle’ who lives opposite his house is going to be the chief minister of the state. He did not know exactly what it meant, but he surely knew that it was of some significance.

“He says he will go to school tomorrow and tell his friends that the ‘CM uncle’ is his friend!,” said Gladys, Aaron’s grandmother.
According to the neighbours, the Gowdas moved in to the street a little over five years ago. The neighbours described them as very friendly people.

The Gowda household saw a steady stream of visitors since Thursday afternoon and bouquets of flowers were filling up the hall which had a portrait of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Everybody asked the same question: “Where is Mr CM?”

“He has switched off the phone. So even I am not sure where he is right now,” said son Karthik. As it grew dark, the crowd became impatient. So were the media professional assembled there.

Suddenly, someone announced that Gowda left the former CM’s residence and was heading home. Everybody took their positions.
Gowda’s wife, surrounded by relatives, waited with the traditional aarti thaal. Many visitors stood up holding garlands of various sizes and hues. His neighbours gathered in their balconies.

Media photographers set themselves at vantage points to capture the whole drama. Policemen too were on alert.

But a phone call from Gowda changed the scene.

Gowda said while heading home, he had to change his plans to attend an urgent meeting at Dr VS Acharya’s residence.

The crowd was told that his arrival home would be delayed beyond 10.30 pm. At this point, the rain stopped and all those assembled quietly dispersed.

Puttur erupts in joy as its son becomes CM
When news spread that two-time MLA from Puttur, Dakshina Kannada, DV Sadananda Gowda, was going to be the next chief minister of the state, the town burst into celebrations on Wednesday. A three-hour-long procession started from the BJP office and wound its way right through the town, ending at the Mahalingeshwara temple.

Fire crackers were burst right through the path of the procession. Sweets were distributed and special pujas were performed at the Mahalingeshwara temple, and at the Krishna temple and Anantheshwara temple in Udupi, by a large crowd that prayed for the well-being of the chief minister-elect, a son of Puttur’s soil.

“Before 1989 (when Sadananada Gowda first contested assembly elections and lost), Puttur was the district headquarters for goondaism. After Gowda came to public life, he pounded the anti-social elements out. Those goondas have been silenced now, they’ve left without a trace,” says Ramakrishna Bhat, resident of Kadaba, a one-time guru of Sadananda Gowda.

There are those who attribute Gowda’s entry into state politics to an act of preventing goondaism. “In 1986, a few goons stoned the car of Udupi Pejawar mutt swamiji Vishveswara Theerta. The swamy suffered minor injury in that attack. Sadanna was attending an RSS meeting near the spot where the attack occurred. He went after the goons himself, and successfully managed to get them arrested,” recalls Gopalkrishna Herale, president of the BJP’s Puttur assembly constituency unit, adding that Sadananda came into the limelight after that incident, and launched himself as a leader.

“He is an upright man, with his heart in the right place. I have worked with him for 30 years in the party. I am yet to meet a man who does not like Sadanna. But behind that friendly face, there is a task master who will not let anyone walk away if he has not done the task assigned,” said Herale.

Learning that her son would be the next chief minister, his mother Kamala V Gowda, said, “Sada was a gritty lad, right from childhood. He used to surprise me. Sometimes even scare me with his revolutionary beliefs. At the end of the day, he is hard working and has made us proud.”