Fall of Janata Dal Government-Lessons for Democratic Decentralisation

months now that unless Bommai developed qualities of leadership that he had not shown earlier, he would not be able to hold the party together Given the wide suspicion about his own Lingayat favouritism, it would have been a miracle if Deve Gowda and his followers had continued to support his ministry. At least after Deve Gowda's leaving the government Bommai should have known that his government would be subjected to intense pressure from all sides. Knowing that, he should have changed his tactics completely and focused on strengthening his and the party's reputation for the elections which in the normal course would have been held early next year. With the pan- chayat raj institutions beginning to establish themselves all over the state, he had a golden opportunity to reach the people effectively through them and build his party's cadres at the ground level