The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : The man who took the BJP to rural areas

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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

The man who took the BJP to rural areas

B. S. Satish Kumar

B.S. Yeddyurappa has been the main pillar of the party in the State for nearly two and a half decades

He played a key role in bringing BJP to power
He spearheaded the party’s campaign in the elections

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

One for the album: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa poses for a photograph with his family members after taking oath, in the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore on Friday.

BANGALORE: The 65-year-old Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa, who took oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Friday, will go down in the political history as a person who played a key role in bringing the Bharatiya Janata Party to power for the first time in a southern State.

As BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, he spearheaded the party’s campaign in the just concluded elections. In fact, the party’s campaign was mainly structured around him and his unceremonious exit as Chief Minister earlier.

This six-time MLA from Shikaripur constituency of Shimoga district has been a main pillar for the BJP in the State for nearly two and half decades. Mr. Yeddyurappa, who is familiar with the grassroot level issues, has been credited with expanding the party’s base from urban pockets to rural areas and increasing its numerical strength in the Assembly to three digits for the first time.

A rustic and simple politician with an aggressive style, Mr. Yeddyurappa is known for a large number of public struggles undertaken by him. His recent struggle was the janajagruthi yatre under which he toured more than 120 Assembly constituencies in the State to convert the adverse political situation which abruptly ended his chief ministerial tenure into a political opportunity.

He is one of those leaders who makes impulsive decisions. People of Shikaripur still remember the days when he toured all the villages of this constituency on a bicycle to know the impact of drought in 1987 as an MLA.

Mr. Yeddyurappa comes from a farmer’s family at Bookanakere village of K.R. Pet taluk in Mandya district. A staunch supporter of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, he later shifted to Shikaripur in Shimoga district to spread the work of RSS. He settled down there after marrying Maithradevi who hailed from Shikaripur.

His public life began at the age of 29 years when he became the Shikaripur taluk president of the then Jansangh in 1972. He was elected as councillor of the Shikaripur Town Municipal Council in 1975 and became its president in 1977. He was jailed for 45 days during the Emergency.

The turning point in his political career came in 1983 when he was elected to the Assembly for the first time on a BJP ticket. It was during this time that the BJP offered an outside support to the first-ever non Congress government in the State headed by Ramakrishna Hegde. He was re-elected to the Assembly in 1985 and 1989.

He was appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly in 1994. He was party State president for two terms in 1988 and 1998. He was also a member of the Legislative Council from 2000 to 2004. He became Opposition leader in the Assembly for the second time in 2004 on his election to the Assembly for the fifth time. In 2006, he became Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government.

He held the portfolios of Finance and Excise and presented two budgets. Some of his budgetary schemes, especially the waiver of farm loans, reduction of rate of interest on crop loans and Bhagyalakshmi scheme to empower girls from poor caught the attention of the nation.

Though he assumed office as Chief Minister on November 12, 2007 in a BJP-led coalition government, he could stay in the office only for eight days.

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