ABSTRACT
Hegde’s victory at Kanakapura in mid-1983 boosted the Janata government’s already high morale, but voters elsewhere in the state soon provided sobering reminders of the ground realities. In three subsequent by-elections, the Janata Party made no inroads into Congress support. Convinced of the infallibility of his campaign skills, Deve Gowda took responsibility for a by-election in Maddur, an important constituency in the Vokkaliga heartland of Mandya district, where a Congress incumbent had died. Although all the tricks tried and tested in Kanakapura were employed in Maddur, the Congress retained the seat. The Janata Party met the same fate in two other constituencies. The Congress had been beaten in the state assembly election and in Kanakapura, but it was far from fi nished.
