For those who matter in the corridors of power in the imposing Vidhana Soudha, the Karnataka state secretariat, a "must-stop" destination is Amogh in south Bangalore, the residence of JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda. As former prime minister, Gowda was used to being called upon by high-profile visitors, though of late they are rare. But on a recent Sunday, a VIP visitor came calling-Chief Minister Dharam Singh drove to the outskirts of the city to spend three hours with the former prime minister.

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DUMMY HEAD: Singh's role has been reduced to appeasing Gowda and the JD(S)

It was, of course, no courtesy call. The reason Singh dropped by was to soothe some ruffled feathers: Gowda was miffed after an IAS officer close to the former chief minister S.M. Krishna sought the state Government's permission to prosecute Gowda for charging him with corruption in public. Krishna added fuel to the fire by shooting off a letter to Gowda defending the officer. Singh managed to pacify Gowda by assuring him that the state Government would not give permission to the officer to proceed against him.

The Gowda factor plays a key role in the Dharam Singh dispensation as his Congress-led Government is dependent on the support of the JD(S) for survival. As such, it is the former prime minister and his family that virtually call the shots in Bangalore. Recently, Gowda's son H.D. Kumaraswamy, the MLA from Ramanagaram, launched a vicious attack on Singh, berating the Government on issues ranging from the appointment of chairpersons to state boards and corporations to resolving the imbroglio over the common entrance test in professional colleges, to addressing the JD(S) election promise of setting up a high court bench in north Karnataka and allocation of money for development works in its legislators' constituencies.

H.D. Revanna, Gowda's other son and Public Works Department (PWD) minister in the Singh Cabinet, too toed the same belligerent line: he convened a party meeting and promptly placed a charter of demands before Singh. And after the chief minister characteristically dragged his feet over expanding his Cabinet, Kumaraswamy remarked, tongue firmly in cheek, that Singh should at least let the people know which month or year he was planning to expand the Cabinet. Gowda has now given Singh a September 26 deadline to induct more ministers, including more from the JD(S). If not, the former prime minister threatened he would take up the matter with Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Gowda, however, denies he is an extraconstitutional authority who holds the Government's remote control in his hands. "Singh knows how to run the Government and he is doing it well," says Gowda, who was the chief minister a decade ago. "My role is at the national level."

DEMANDS BY THE DEVE GOWDA CLAN

CABINET EXPANSION: With Singh delaying the cabinet expansion, Deve Gowda has given him a September 26 deadline, threatened to call up Sonia and asked for more JD(S) ministers to be included. HASSAN ON A HIGH: Gowda's home district Hassan is being unduly pampered-an SEZ, a Rs 200 crore development package, Rs 100 crore for cold storage plants, a Rs 50 crore sugar factory, a Rs 12 crore World Bank aid are among the several goodies showered on it. KRISHNA BAITING: Gowda has been targeting his bete noir and former chief minister S.M. Krishna's close associates and ensuring that they stay out of power.

The facts, however, tell a different story. It is under pressure from Gowda that Singh is keeping D.K. Shivakumar, a close associate of Krishna, out of the Cabinet. It was Shivakumar who strategised Gowda's defeat in the last Lok Sabha polls from Kanakapura where the former prime minister lost to a debutante in politics, Tejasvini Sriramesh, a former TV presenter. Like Gowda, Shivakumar also belongs to the powerful Vokkaliga community, but the two don't see eye to eye. Shivakumar, who says he has nearly 30 legislators backing him, has not even moved out of the palatial bungalow on Sankey Road that he occupied as Krishna's right-hand man and urban development minister. "Only this man (Gowda) is against my getting in and he is putting pressure on the high command," he says.

There is evidence strewn everywhere of the extraordinary influence of the Gowda clan. The Government is showering goodies on Hassan, Gowda's home district, even as other areas of the state cry for attention. Consider this: Revanna has ensured a Rs 200 crore development package for Hassan, Rs 50 crore for a cooperative sugar factory, Rs 100 crore for cold storage plants, Rs 12 crore from the World Bank for roads and underground drainage system, and increased share of seed subsidy from Rs 1.21 crore to Rs 2 crore, among others. The state Government is also setting up a special economic zone (SEZ) there while Industry Minister P.G.R. Sindhia says he is planning an investors' conference in Hassan by December. Also, a convention is being arranged to discuss jobs for 88,000 unemployed youths in the district.

Gowda's backseat driving was also evident in the way in which the Singh Government decided to seek reconstitution of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. Initially, the Congress was averse to any change in the tribunal as a verdict was expected by the year-end. Says a senior Congress leader: "This year, the rain gods have been kind to us. There was no need to ask for a change. It is the JD(S) who wanted a change."

According to well-placed sources in the chief minister's office, Singh and Gowda have interacted over two dozen times since the state's first coalition government was formed a little over three months ago. The two have known each other for years and Singh has no qualms about the fact that though he is the chief minister, it is Gowda who really holds the reins. Singh's supporters say that it makes more sense for him to be in the former prime minister's good books-after all, he became chief minister with Gowda's blessings.

Thus despite being a junior partner in the ministry, it is the JD(S) group which has cornered all the important portfolios. In addition to the deputy chief ministership, the party holds the key portfolios of revenue, finance, heavy industry, PWD and power. Singh, who held the powerful PWD post under Krishna, chose to hand this over to Revanna when he took over as chief minister.

Deve Gowda's hotline to Sonia is another key factor. That is why Gowda refuses to acknowledge the existence of the Karnataka Congress unit and particularly its chief Janardhana Poojary. In the early days of the coalition regime, Gowda and Poojary indulged in verbal spats almost on a daily basis prompting many to wonder if the coalition experiment was doomed to a premature end. But with Singh content to stay in the background and let the former prime minister hog the limelight, the future may not be so bleak after all.