B. S. Yediyurappa
Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa , commonly known as B. S. Yediyurappa or BSY, is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has served as chief minister of Karnataka for four terms and as a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 1983 to 2022, although his tenure was not continuous throughout that period.
In 2008, Yediyurappa assumed office as the chief minister of Karnataka after leading the BJP to victory in the state's legislative assembly elections, marking the first occasion on which the BJP formed a state government in South India. In 2011, he resigned after being indicted over a corruption case but was acquitted in 2016. In 2012, owing to alleged ill-treatment by the BJP high command, Yediyurappa parted ways with the party to establish his own political outfit, the Karnataka Janata Paksha. In 2014, he merged the KJP with the BJP and was subsequently elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from the Shimoga constituency. He later resigned from the Lok Sabha following his election to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in the state election held in 2018, after which, he was sworn in as chief minister for the third time. However, he failed to secure major support in the Assembly and resigned two days later. H. D. Kumaraswamy subsequently took the oath as chief minister. In July 2019, the Kumaraswamy government lost its majority following the resignation of 17 MLAs. Yediyurappa was once again sworn in as chief minister, and in the by-elections held later that year, consolidated his majority.
Yediyurappa resigned as chief minister on 26 July 2021, on the second anniversary of his fourth term. He was succeeded by Basavaraj Bommai, on 28 July 2021.
Personal life
Yediyurappa was born on 27 February 1943 in the village of Bookanakere, located in the Mandya district of the former Kingdom of Mysore, then part of British India. His parents were Siddalingappa and Puttathayamma, and the family belongs to the Banajiga sub-sect of the Lingayat caste. His mother died when he was four. He completed his pre-university college education at the Government College in Mandya, affiliated with the University of Mysore. Since his youth, Yediyurappa has been affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation, as well as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a far-right Hindu nationalist political party which was the political arm of the RSS and the precursor to the BJP.In 1965 he moved to Shikaripura, where he began working as a clerk at a relative's rice mill. In 1967 Yediyurappa married Mythradevi, the daughter of a rice mill owner. He has two sons, B. Y. Raghavendra and B. Y. Vijayendra, and three daughters, Arunadevi, Padmavati and Umadevi. Mythradevi died in 2004.
In 2007 he changed the spelling of his name from "Yediyurappa" to "Yeddyurappa", following the advice of his astrologers. He later returned to the original spelling, Yediyurappa, before the oath-taking ceremony of his fourth term as chief minister of Karnataka in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, he contracted COVID-19 but recovered soon afterwards. In 2022, his granddaughter, 30 year-old Soundarya Neeraj, died by suicide.
Political career
Early political career and local offices (1972–1988)
In 1972, Yediyurappa was elected to the Shikaripura Town Municipality and was also appointed the president of the Taluk unit of the Jana Sangh. In 1975, he was elected president of the town municipality of Shikaripura. He was imprisoned during the Emergency in India and lodged in the Bellary and Shimoga jails. In 1980, he was appointed president of the Shikaripura taluk unit of the BJP and later went on to become the president of BJP's Shimoga district unit in 1985. In 1988, he became the state president of the BJP in Karnataka. He was first elected to the lower house of the Karnataka Legislature in 1983 and has since represented the Shikaripura constituency six times. Following the 1994 state assembly elections, he became Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. In 1999, he lost the elections but was nominated by the BJP to become a member of the legislative council of Karnataka. He was later re-elected in 2004 and became the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly during the chief ministership of Dharam Singh.Coalition government with JD(S) (2006–2007)
During his first tenure in government, Yediyurappa supported Janata Dal leader H. D. Kumaraswamy in bringing down the coalition government led by Dharam Singh and forming a new administration in partnership with the BJP. As part of the agreement between the JD and BJP, it was decided that H. D. Kumaraswamy would serve as Chief Minister for the first 20 months, followed by Yediyurappa for the subsequent 20 months. In the Kumaraswamy-led Government, Yediyurappa held the positions of Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister.Breakdown of coalition and brief chief ministership (2007)
However, in October 2007, when it was Yediyurappa's turn to become Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy refused to relinquish his post. As a result, Yediyurappa and ministers from his party resigned, and on 5 October, the BJP formally withdrew its support to the Kumaraswamy government. Karnataka came briefly under President's rule but Yediyurappa eventually became the Chief Minister of Karnataka after the JD and the BJP reconciled. Yediyurappa was sworn in as the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka on 12 November 2007. However, JD refused to support his government over disagreement on the sharing of ministries which resulted in his resignation as Chief Minister on 19 November 2007.Assembly election and first full term as Chief Minister (2008–2011)
In Karnataka's 2008 Assembly elections, Yediyurappa contested from Shikaripura against former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa of the Samajwadi Party who was also backed by the Indian National Congress and JD. However Yediyurappa won the seat and led the BJP to victory in the state, as Karnataka became the gateway for the BJP in south India. He took the oath of office as Chief Minister on 30 May 2008.Lokayukta investigation and resignation (2011)
The Karnataka Lokayukta investigating the illegal mining case submitted its report indicting Yediyurappa for illegally profiteering from land deals in Bangalore and Shimoga, and also in connection with the illegal iron ore export scam in Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka. Following much pressure from the BJP central leadership, he announced his decision to quit, and formally resigned on 31 July 2011. Ananth Kumar, Shobha Karandlaje, Jagadish Shettar and S. Suresh Kumar were in the race to succeed him. But Sadananda Gowda replaced him as Chief Minister.Formation of Karnataka Janata Paksha (2012–2013)
He resigned from his position as a Member of Legislative Assembly and primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party on 30 November 2012 and formally launched the Karnataka Janata Paksha. It is said that his former colleague and senior BJP leader, Anna Vinayachandra, was the key person who led the movement at the national level to demand expulsion from the party which led to his resignation. Although the party and its name were registered in April 2011, Yediyurappa actually launched it in 2012. He was elected as an MLA from Shikaripura Constituency in May 2013.Return to BJP and parliamentary career (2014–2017)
In November 2013, it was announced that he was considering an unconditional return to the BJP. On 2 January 2014 he announced a merger with BJP ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He won the Shimoga seat of Karnataka in the 2014 Indian general election by a margin of 363,305 votes.In 2016, the BJP re-appointed him as the President of the Karnataka state BJP unit. He was BJP's chief ministerial candidate in the 2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. However, the party secured 104 seats, falling 9 short of a simple majority.
During the aftermath of the 2018 Karnataka Legislative assembly elections, Yediyurappa was invited to form the government and become the Chief Minister by the Governor citing that his party was the single largest in the house with 104 seats. He was sworn in on 17 May 2018 by the Governor Vajubhai Vala, becoming the Chief minister of Karnataka for the third time. He was given 15 days to prove majority by the governor but the Supreme Court intervened and cut it short to just 24 hours and ordered a floor test soon after. The trust vote was to be held on 19 May 2018 at 4 pm. Before the trust vote was to begin, however, Chief Minister B. S Yediyurappa gave an emotional speech, following which he resigned citing that he would be unable to produce a majority. He thus became one of the shortest-serving chief ministers in India with just days in office.
Fourth term and political crisis (2019)
Due to turmoil in the coalition government of JDS and Congress, 16 MLAS submitted their resignation to the government, turning it into a minority 2019 Karnataka resignation crisis. But out of 16, MLA Ramalinga Reddy was convinced to join back the fold. After 18 days of ups and downs with rebel MLAs not withdrawing their demands and resignations, the coalition government had to step down due to defeat of trust vote on 23 July 2019 thereby paving way for the BJP and its leader Yediyurappa to stake claim for government formation. He was invited by Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala on 26 July to form the new government and took oath as the Chief Minister of the state for the fourth time.The by-polls for these 15 out of the 17 constituencies were conducted on 5 December 2019, where all the parties campaigned immensely. B. S. Yediyurappa promised the voters that each candidate would be awarded a ministry if the people voted for them. The results were declared on 9 December. BJP and its leader Yediyurappa were victorious by winning 12 out of the 15 contested seats, thereby gaining a full majority, and a total of 117/224 assembly seats in the 2019 Karnataka Legislative Assembly by-elections.