Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (Kannada: ಹರದನಹಳ್ಳಿ ದೊಡ್ಡೇಗೌಡ ದೇವೇಗೌಡ) (b. 18 May 1933) was the twelfth Prime Minister of the Republic of India (1996-1997) and the 14th chief minister of the state of Karnataka (1994-1996).
Born into a farming family , he won his first seat in the Karnataka state assembly in 1962, rising to become Karnataka's chief minister. In the late 1970s Deve Gowda rose in the Janata party and was an important figure in reuniting its successor, the Janata Dal party, after the original group splintered in 1980. Deve Gowda was instrumental in attracting to the party divergent castes. When the Congress party was defeated in the 1996 general elections and Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao resigned, Deve Gowda became prime minister of the United Front coalition government after BJP failed to form a government.
