Seventy-five-year-old Bookanakere Siddalingaiah Yeddyurappa, who took oath as chief minister of Karnataka for the third time on Thursday, has often been described as a “politician on the move”, being a leader who has extensively toured every nook and corner of the State. In fact he covered 11,000 km in 85 days under parivarthana yatra campaign of the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls.
As a political leader, who grew from the grassroots to ascend the chief ministerial post. He is also counted among a handful of political leaders in the State who understand the pulse of the people, especially in rural areas.
Born in Bookanakere village of Mandya district, he migrated to Shivamogga which later turned out to be his political bastion. Having a close association with the RSS from college days, he began his public life as a member of Shikaripura Town Municipality in 1972.
It was the emergency days that saw his political graph going up as he not only became the president of Shikaripura Town Municipality, but also established his identity by aggressively participating in anti-Emergency protests, resulting in him being sent to jails in Ballari and Shivamogga. He became the president of Shikaripura taluk unit of BJP in 1980, president of Party’s Shivamogga unit in 1985 and finally Party state president in 1988.
He first entered the Karnataka Legislative Assembly by winning from Shikaripura in 1983 and since then, he has been elected eight times. He has also served as MLC and MP besides being Leader of the Opposition in 1994 and 2004.
However, he had to wait for a long time for his first stint in government till he became deputy chief minister in the JD (S)-BJP coalition government in 2006. Though he became chief minister in 2007, his tenure barely lasted for a week as the coalition partner JD (S) withdrew its support.
It was after the JD (S) refused to transfer power to the BJP and make him chief minister as per the power-sharing agreement that Mr. Yeddyurappa took up a statewide campaign that helped him emerge as a prominent Lingayat leader.
He led the BJP to victory in 2008 and became the chief minister. However, he had to step down in 2011 following a report on illegal mining by the Lokayukta against him. He was also imprisoned for 25 days.
His stepping down from power also saw groupism in the party, resulting in him quitting the BJP in 2012 and reviving the Karnataka Janata Party. But he returned to the BJP fold in 2013 after both his party and the BJP suffered humiliating defeat in the polls. Mr. Yeddyurappa became party’s state president and chief ministerial candidate in 2016 close on the heels of getting legal relief from courts with respect to his cases.
Mr. Yeddyurappa has again won the Assembly polls and taken oath as chief minister for the third time. However, the history has repeated as even during the third time, there is political uncertainty over his tenure since his party has not got a clear majority.
