Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has an unwritten rule that anyone who has crossed the age of 75 will not be allowed to hold public office. But rules are for lesser mortals; they don’t apply if you are Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa, who was sworn in as chief minister of Karnataka for a record fourth time Friday.
The BJP could have ignored the 76-year-old Yediyurappa at its own peril, because he is the tallest party leader in the state by a mile. The bosses in Delhi would have obviously recalled the nightmare of May 2013 when he was instrumental in the BJP crashing to just 40 seats in the assembly elections.
Only six months earlier, in November 2012, he had walked out of the party to launch the Karnataka Janata Paksha which could win only six seats, but more importantly, garnered nearly 10 per cent of the vote, leading to the BJP’s defeat in 29 seats.
Clearly, the BJP leadership would not have wanted to risk being adventurous and antagonise the Lingayat strongman again, in the only state in the South where it has held power in the past.
Tainted stints
This may be the fourth time Yediyurappa is occupying the chief minister’s chair, but his earlier stints have all been tainted. His first term in 2007 lasted a week, while the one in 2018 lasted a miserable three days. His second stint, between May 2008 and August 2011, was longer, but the most controversial, with his government rocked by a spate of scandals, the worst of which — the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam — short-circuited his stay in power.
He had to suffer the ignominy of being jailed for three weeks, though he was cleared of the charges in October 2016.
His indictment by the Lokayukta, which probed the mining scam, had forced his resignation, but he didn’t go without a fight. He ensured that his loyalist D.V. Sadananda Gowda took his place, a condition he put to central leaders Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh.
High drama ensued on 31 July 2011 when Yediyurappa resigned. After initially refusing to quit, he fell in line when Jaitley and Singh read the riot act to him. His emissaries were told he had to resign before 5 pm or face expulsion.
Yediyurappa is not known to hide his emotions. On the day he had to meet the governor to submit his resignation, he stayed put at his residence. A few minutes before he had to reach Raj Bhavan, a minister who came to remind him became an unfortunate victim of his fiery temper. It is said that he had worked up such a rage that he slapped the minister.
Also read: 3 reasons why Yediyurappa worked hard to topple Karnataka’s Congress-JD(S) govt
Architect of BJP in Karnataka
Ambitious, stubborn and indefatigable, Yediyurappa largely deserves the credit for what the BJP is today in the state. A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member, he started off as a first division clerk in the social welfare department before leaving the job in a few months to work in a rice mill in Shikaripura in Shivamogga district, where he became a municipal council member.
A 45-day jail term during the Emergency further hardened his resolve to work for the people.
His name started being heard in political circles in the 1970s when he led a successful campaign to free bonded labourers. He also aggressively took up the cause of farmers, earning him much fame.
In 1983, he defeated a sitting minister in the assembly elections, and never looked back since, winning eight state polls and one Lok Sabha poll.
Yediyurappa is not much of a speaker on constitutional issues, but in the assembly, he has been an indomitable force for the BJP. Not one to give up easily, he is known for his night-long dharnas inside the assembly in support of the party’s demands.
Usually circumspect in his public utterances, he was in the eye of the storm when in February this year, he said the air strikes by the government on Pakistan had created a Modi wave in the country, and that would help the BJP win at least 22 out of the 28 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. It is another matter that the BJP ended up winning 25.
A 24×7 politician, Yediyurappa is much like former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda. For both, there is no life beyond politics. Both are God-fearing and avid believers in astrology — the BJP man changed the spelling of his name to Yeddyurappa in 2007. But surprisingly, his letter to the governor staking claim to form the government has brought back the old spelling, Yediyurappa.
Also read: Why a BJP govt in Karnataka could be as unstable as the 14-month Congress-JD(S) alliance
Controversy’s child
Controversies have dogged the state BJP president throughout his career. Apart from the taint of corruption, he has earned much opprobrium for his brainchild ‘Operation Kamala’, a codeword for inducing defections from rival parties.
In 2008, Yediyurappa was short of numbers in the assembly. With the help of discredited mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, he hatched a plan to get seven MLAs to resign, enabling him to prove his majority.
Similar skulduggery has worked in his favour this time around too, after over 15 Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs quit the assembly. The high command had asked him to go slow in staking claim to form the government, but an impatient Yediyurappa said he was confident of avoiding a repeat of the 2018 fiasco, where he could not prove his majority.
Yediyurappa may still swing it this time, but clouds of uncertainty will continue to hover over the remainder of the 15th assembly’s tenure — a little under four years. If living down the sordid defection drama is one challenge, managing to ward off reverse predatory attacks by the opposition is another. The most daunting would be to keep the BJP’s own loyal flock and the new entrants happy with ministerial berths, not to mention counter the opposition’s taunts of “jailbird” and “corruption icon”.
More immediately, he has to get the Finance Bill passed before 31 July. The vote on account obtained in February will expire by the end of the month.
For Yediyurappa, the fourth stint as chief minister will certainly be no bed of roses.
We are convinced that in politics one has to be corrupt to remain in power . Karnataka has shown that .