quit office in 1988 after allegations of phone tapping of prominent politicians and businessmen in the State. Hegde then filed a case against Subramanian Swamy in 1989 and 1990 after Swamy accused him in tapping. Soon after, he quit the Janata Party and joined the Janata Dal. He contested Lok Sabha elections from Bagalkot in 1991 and was defeated by Congress candidate Siddu Nyamagouda. He was also the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India during the tenure of V. P. Singh. He was expelled from Janata Dal by its president Lalu Prasad Yadav, as per the instructions of Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda in 1996. Following his expulsion, Hegde formed the Rashtreeya Nava nirmana vedike a social organisation and then his own political party Lok Shakti. He allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the alliance won a majority of the Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka in the 1998 General Elections. He became the Commerce minister in the BJP led NDA government in 1998. After the Janata Dal split of 1999, the faction led by his protégé, Chief Minister J. H. Patel, and the Lok Shakti merged to form the Janata Dal (United) and allied with the BJP. However, the alliance suffered a setback in the 1999 General Elections owing to the anti-incumbency against the Patel Government and the Congress party emerged victorious in Karnataka. Personal life Hegde was married at a very young age to Shakuntala Amma, in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way. The marriage, which lasted throughout their lives, was blessed with three children, a son named Bharath appa and two daughters named Mamata and Samata. Shakuntala is a conventional lady, a devoted wife and mother, who adhered to the traditional view that a woman's dignity exists in staying away from the public gaze and the rough and tumble of public life. She continues to reside in Bangalore after Hegde's death, and had to suffer the pain of witnessing the early death of her only son, Bharath, who died of liver cancer in February 2013. Shakuntala Amma Hegde is now of very advanced age and is being cared for by her two daughters. Hegde was also the romantic partner of a renowned Indian classical dancer Pratibha Prahlad who was junior to him by 36 years, from the 1980s until his death in 2004. He is also the biological father