'I was also an accidental prime minister,' says former PM HD Deve Gowda amid political row on biographical film

Bengaluru: Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda on Friday said he too was an “Accidental Prime Minister” amid a political row over the movie with the same title. The film is based on Manmohan Singh’s tenure as India’s prime minister from 2004 to 2014 with the Congress alleging it was the BJP’s propaganda against their party. [caption id=“attachment_4497559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of HD Deve Gowda. AFP[/caption] The movie is based on the book of the same name by Sanjaya Baru, who served as Singh’s media adviser from 2004 to 2008. The film’s trailer was released in Mumbai on Thursday. Reacting to a question over the controversy, the 85-year-old JDS supremo said “Actually I don’t know, why that was allowed…I think it started three or four months ago. I don’t know who has permitted, why? honestly, I have not gone through this so-called Accidental Prime Minister. I’m also (an) Accidental Prime Minister,” Gowda said in a lighter vein. In the 1996 general elections, no party won enough seats to form a government. The United Front, a conglomeration of non-Congress and non-BJP regional parties, decided to form the government at the Centre with the support of the Congress and chose Gowda to head the government. He served as prime minister from 1 June, 1996 to 21 April, 1997 with the help of regional parties and Congress. Later, when Congress withdrew support, Gowda had to step down. Directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, the film stars Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh and Akshaye Khanna as Baru. It is slated for release on 11 January.