Born on May 18, 1933 at a remote village in Karnataka's Hassan district, Haradanhalli Doddgegowda Deve Gowda, a leader of Vokklaliga community, began his political career by joining Congress in 1953 but quit the party after a nine-year association.
A disciple of Karnataka's former education minister A G Ramachandra Rao, Gowda took over as chief of Karnataka Janata Party in 1978 succeeding Veerendra Patil.
For all his political manouvering ability, Gowda, an ambitious politician, was outsmarted by more wily Ramakrishna Hegde for chief ministership when the first non-Congress coalition government was installed in Karnataka in 1983.
After an initial phase of smooth relations, Gowda and Hegde fell out, especially after the Chief Minister ordered an inquiry into Gowda's alleged land deals. The open discord between the two top leaders led to Janata Dal's debacle in 1989 assembly poll in the wake of land scams and phone-tapping controversy. Gowda himself was humbled in his traditional strongholds of Holenarasipura and Kanaka Pura.
But Gowda learnt a key lesson: that of alliance and coalition politics. He buried the hatchet with Hegde and the unity paid off handsomely five years later.
As Janata Party merged with Janata Dal, the latter won the assembly poll in 1994 and Gowda became Karnataka's chief minister, after waiting for more than a decade and overcoming challenges thrown by Hegde and J H Patel.
As Karnataka chief minister, Gowda had said he would never cross the limits of the state's political theatre leaving the national scene to the likes of Hegde and S R Bommai. But in 1997 when Gowda's greatest moment came with his choice as the Prime Minister of United Front coalition government, it surprised political pundits and, as per some reports, his family as well.
During his stint as Prime Minister, Gowda vigorously pursued economic reforms overcoming serious reservations from within the 13-party coalition he led.
Although a man who fancies himself as more at home in the paddy fields of his village, the budget presented during his prime ministership drew applause from industrial barons and urban middle class for the thrust on growth-oriented measures and relief to salaried class.
However, his stay at the helm of affairs at the Centre was brief as Congress withdrew support to the UF government headed by Gowda.
Gowda's detractors say he has since then nurtured a grude against Congress. But when the assembly polls in Karnataka threw up a fractured verdict, he tied up with Congress to form a coalition government to keep BJP, which had emerged as the single largest party, at bay.
But ties between JD (S) and Congress came under strain almost from day one of the coalition government and a change of chief minister in the form of S M Krishna making way for Dharam Singh did not help. The chasm only grew by the day.
Within his own party also, Gowda had a very rough time as his party split with former Deputy Chief Minister Siddhamaiah revolting against his leadership and getting the sack. Then came the revolt by his son.
