The resignation of Rythu Bandhu (farmers friend) Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa as Chief Minister of Karnataka brings a curtain on the long and distinguished career of a people’s politician who built the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
Showing poise, dignity, and fortitude, in a tearful speech to his supporters, Yediyurappa said, “I have decided to resign. I will meet the Governor after lunch,”. He called his last two years as the CM of the state during Covid as agnipariksha (trial by fire).
“I thank PM (Narendra) Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda. They gave me the chance to rule as Chief Minister despite being over 75. I had decided to resign some time back. I thought it best to resign today as we mark completion of two years in this term,” he told reporters.
In his farewell address, Yediyurappa showed grace and humility as he thanked Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and his ideologue Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyayaji, former PM Atalji, Advaniji, Murali Manohar Joshij who built the BJP as a national party.
Yediyurappa is one of those rare politicians who always followed party discipline and now leaves behind politics that saw him built the BJP from the bottom up in Karnataka and in that process, he won eight assembly elections one time as a Member of Parliament and as a Member of a State Legislative Council (MLC).
But his highlight was to be elected by his party as its CM four times and three times as the leader of the opposition, making him a giant in Karnataka politics and perhaps the tallest leader to emerge from the Lingayat community.
Yediyurappa was born on 27 February 1943 in a village called Bookanakere in K.R.Pet taluk of Mandya district. At a young age, he lost his mother and in order to support his family, he sold lemons and worked as a factory clerk in a rice mill.
A member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from his college days, Yediyurappa’s public service began when he was appointed as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Sangh’s Shikaripur unit in 1970. Later with hard work he was elected to the Shikaripura Town Municipality and was also appointed as the President of the Taluk unit of the Jana Sangh.
During the dark period of the Congress-imposed emergency, Yediyurappa was imprisoned and lodged in the Bellary and Shimoga jails.
From there on he went from strength to strength with his dedication and became state president of the BJP in Karnataka in 1988. He won eight assembly elections has been a member of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Legislative Assemblies (lower house) of Karnataka.
In 1994 he became the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and in 1999, he was nominated by the BJP to become a member of the legislative council (upper house) of Karnataka.
Yediyurappa became Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2007 but only for a week. The 2004 Assembly Election saw a hung Assembly with BJP emerging as the single largest party with 79 seats. The Congress came second with 65 and the JDS third with 58 seats. But then, like it happened 2018, the Congress and JDS came to power only for the government to break within days. Later, the JDS and BJP came together with the BJP agreeing for Kumaraswamy to be CM till 2007. But Kumaraswamy failed to keep the promise at his end by not transferring the power to Yediyurappa to 2008.
Betrayed by their own alliance partner, Yediyurappa once again went to the people and got their mandate with the BJP winning a wafer thing majority. It was after he came to power that he had face another tumultuous period with several charges of corruption against him. He had to quit in 2011 and was arrested. The BJP faced a humiliating defeat in the 2013 Assembly Election coming third as the BJP itself was divided into separate factions.
It was after Modi came to power that the BJP in the state felt rejuvenated. But Yediyurappa still had 4 more years for the 2018 Assembly elections to come. But the BJP once again failed to secure enough majority for it to comfortably form the government. The unholy alliance of Congress-JDS was formed again. Yediyurappa on the other hand swore that he would ensure the BJP sweeps Karnataka in 2019.
And it did. The BJP won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats. Operation Kamal was launched and Yediyurappa became Chief Minister despite him crossing 75. But the BJP high command made an exception to their ‘retirement at 75 years’ rule for the man’s dedication and hardwork in making the party a formidable force.
By following party orders and resigning without creating an uproar, Yediyurappa has now set an example for others to follow.
The BJP as a party always ensures that stalwarts make space for the next generation of leaders to rise and lead. Yediyurappa will be remembered as the man who built the BJP in Karnataka brick by brick.
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