Controversy’s favourite child
From the humdrum existence as a government clerk and a hardware store owner to becoming the chief minister of the state for a second time, BS Yeddyurappa has navigated the choppy waters of politics with the consummate ease of a seasoned oarsman, defying tidal waves of adversity.
A hard-boiled Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man, 75-yearold Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa joined the Hindu right-wing organisation when he was barely 15, and cut his political teeth in the Jana Sangh, the BJP’s forerunner, in his hometown Shikaripura in Shivamogga district.
The Lingayat strongman is known to have espoused the cause of farmers, something which was repeatedly referred to by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his election speeches.
Yeddyurappa may have landed in the hot seat in 2004 itself when the BJP emerged as the single largest party, but the Congress and JD(S) of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda cobbled together an alliance, and a government was formed under Dharam Singh.
Known for his political sagacity, Yeddyurappa joined hands with HD Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda’s son, in 2006 and brought down the Dharam Singh government after the chief minister was indicted by Lokayukta in an alleged mining scam. In the 2008 polls, he led the party to victory, and the first BJP government in the south was formed under him.
Soon controversies swirled around Yeddyurappa over alleged abuse of office to favour his sons in allotment of land in Bengaluru. The indictment by Lokayukta in an illegal mining scam was the last straw, and he was forced to resign on July 31, 2011.
Sulking after having been made to quit, Yeddyurappa broke his decades-long association with the saffron party and formed the Karnataka Janata Paksha. However, ploughing a lonely furrow, he failed to make the KJP a force to reckon with in Karnataka politics but wrecked the BJP’s chances of retaining power in the 2013 polls. On January 9, 2014, Yeddyurappa merged his KJP with the BJP.
In the Lok Sabha elections that followed, the BJP won 19 of the state’s 28 seats, a remarkable turnaround for the party.
Notwithstanding the taint of corruption, Yeddyurappa’s status and clout grew in the BJP. On October 26, 2016, he got a huge relief when a special CBI court acquitted him, his two sons and son-in-law in a Rs400 million illegal mining case.
The Lingayat leader, however, continued to be dogged by controversies, with the anti-corruption bureau launching proceedings against him in an alleged illegal land denotification case.