H. D. Deve Gowda served as the 14th Prime Minister of India from June 1996 to April 1997, leading the United Front coalition government. He came from a humble farming background and was the first Kannada-speaking PM. PV Narasimha Rao (9th), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (10th and 13th), and IK Gujral (12th) held different positions in the sequence.