TUMAKURU: Yeshwantpur Railway Station platform 6 was full of impatient passengers on Wednesday morning. One of them was a political celebrity, but he wasn’t too perturbed that the Puducherry-Dadar Chalukya Express, scheduled to leave at 6.30am, was 40 minutes late.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who arrived well in time, had had just a few hours of sleep. After a hectic campaign for the Congress-JD(S) alliance candidates in Chikkaballapura and Bengaluru on Tuesday, he had hit the sack only around 2 am. Yet, this veteran of many elections was up at the crack of dawn, ready to attend a crucial rally in Tiptur town, 140km from Bengaluru.
Gowda preferred the cool way out and hopped on to the train, rather than hit the highway. Up to Tumakuru, a 70km stretch on NH-45, is a smooth four-lane, but the remaining 70 km to Tiptur is the two-lane NH-206. The long route would have been stressful for the 86-year-old leader.
So there was Gowda, boarding the AC-2 Tier coach A1, along with three police personnel, a gunman and his personal assistant. He had a plate of idlis on board, then popped some pills, before stretching out on the berth, as assistants quickly pulled the curtains, as if to put up a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign.
Co-passengers and photojournalists were not allowed any pictures or selfies. And certainly no interviews, warned his gunman Manjunath. For Gowda, it was the best time to catch up on lost sleep, as he got an uninterrupted two hours. And when he was awake, just about 10km from Tiptur, he looked rejuvenated. When this reporter asked how the journey had been, he just gestured with a smile. His PA Anjini Gowda remarked, “I never woke him up.”
Throughout the journey, co-passengers in the coach were unmindful that a former prime minister was travelling with them. “I knew Gowda was travelling with us. I saw that he cannot walk without his assistants’ support. He has become PM once, let him pave the way for others,” remarked Samanth, a 60-year-old businessman bound for Mumbai.
Diploma student Sohaib, 20, who hopped into the general coach in Tumakuru, was also aware that Gowda was on the train. He hoped that Gowda would win from Tumakuru, and become PM once again. Safeer, an artist from Tumakuru who works in Arasikere, in Hassan district, Gowda’s home town, was delighted to meet Gowda on board.
If the passengers were nonchalant, a different scene awaited Gowda as the train pulled into Tiptur. Hundreds of supporters, led by JD(S) leader Lokeshwara, waited with garlands to welcome their leader. Police personnel managed to fox them as Gowda alighted from a door which the crowd did not expect.
The indefatigable Gowda took part in the Tiptur rally, and was later picked up by former CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM G Parameshwara in a chopper, to head out to another campaign destination.