Veteran Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary’s autobiography ‘Salamelada Sangrama’ (The battle of loan melas) that was released here on Friday, is peppered with nuggets of the key role he played in national and State politics during the Indira-Sonia Gandhi era.
One of the interesting narrations is about how he was instrumental in giving a leg-up to the former President Pranab Mukherjee, soon after his loss in the 1980 Lok Sabha polls. Mr. Mukherjee, who was wary about his position in the party, had summoned Mr. Poojary to his residence. It was Mr. Poojary who coaxed the the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to include Mr. Mukherjee in her Cabinet.
Mr. Mukherjee repaid the favour by sanctioning KIOCL and the present Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt. Ltd., at Mysuru, when he was the Union Minister for Commerce, Steel and Mines, he recalls. Mr. Poojary also writes about M. Veerappa Moily, who later turned into his bete noire. He recalled that he had been the one to urge Indira Gandhi to make Moily the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly when the Congress got just 82 seats in 1983. This was despite Indira Gandhi telling him that Mr. Moily was untrustworthy.
Declined CM seat
When S. Bangarappa resigned as Chief Minister over corruption charges, the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had asked him to take over the reins; but as usual, Mr. Poojary had declined.
By then, Mr. Moily had lobbied through Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran to get the post even though the MLAs were with S.M. Krishna, he recalls.
When Veerendra Patil was Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. Poojary had urged him to resolve the problems of toddy tappers in the coastal belt, which the latter did not do. Even after he presented a memorandum signed by 32 MPs from Karnataka, the late Patil did not budge. “I rarely lose my cool, but that day I lost it and told him he won’t continue as CM for long. I told this to Rajiv Gandhi, who assured me not to worry. Knowing my proximity to the Gandhi family, Patil became worried and had a paralytic attack. During his Karnataka visit, Rajiv Gandhi announced Patil’s removal. He wanted to make me the Chief Minister then, but by then Bangarappa had garnered the support,” Mr. Poojary writes.
Mr. Poojary also recalls how he had to convey Rao’s message to Bangarappa that if he did not resign immediately, he would be arrested on charges of corruption.
Mr. Poojary also recalls how Deve Gowda had approached him with C.M. Ibrahim, seeking support to become the Prime Minister. “When Mr. Gowda forgot his word to visit the Kudroli Gokarnatha Temple in Mangaluru after assuming office, I had to act and in a month, the Congress withdrew support,” he writes.
