Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa has accomplished his dream of becoming the state Chief Minister for the fourth time. However, during the turn of events over a period of time and within two months after taking over the reins he looks to have been mellowed down to a great extent which is in quite contrast to his personal and political personality so far.
This transformation apart from amazing his admirers and shocking the followers is not a big surprise to his detractors within the ruling party who continue to gun him down at every possible opportunity!
In spite of being the sole unquestionable mass leader of the saffron party irrespective of caste and creed, he continues to be projected as a Lingayat strong man in some sections of the media to restrict him to one particular community.Interestingly many contenders have cropped up to the pivotal CM post as soon as he is relieved to be packed up to a gubernatorial position none of these aspirants boast of mass appeal forget state wide following.
There are also whispers within the ruling party corridors about an organizational person being imposed upon. But how smoothly the changeover is positioned and the way the party legislators take it lightly or whatever way needs to be seen.But what is intriguing is the same old approach and attitude of the septuagenarian leader who has occupied the position with lot of odds, challenges and hurdles all along the way.May be his background also matters for such behaviour? BS Yediyurappa has spent more than four decades being in the opposition party. He is well connected to the people on ground for hitting the streets every now and then to address the latter’s issues and woes.
In spite of being the sole unquestionable mass leader of the saffron party irrespective of caste and creed, he continues to be projected as a Lingayat strong man in some sections of the media to restrict him to one particular community.Interestingly many contenders have cropped up to the pivotal CM post as soon as he is relieved to be packed up to a gubernatorial position none of these aspirants boast of mass appeal forget state wide following.
There are also whispers within the ruling party corridors about an organizational person being imposed upon. But how smoothly the changeover is positioned and the way the party legislators take it lightly or whatever way needs to be seen.But what is intriguing is the same old approach and attitude of the septuagenarian leader who has occupied the position with lot of odds, challenges and hurdles all along the way.May be his background also matters for such behaviour? BS Yediyurappa has spent more than four decades being in the opposition party. He is well connected to the people on ground for hitting the streets every now and then to address the latter’s issues and woes.
BSY as he is popularly referred to is also well-known for his pro-people relentless struggles and he has been in the forefront of most of the agitations and movements that have taken place in the state so far.
At the same time, may be because of his long innings in the opposition benches his oratory skills haven’t changed much for better despite being shifted to the treasury benches. He appears and continues to behave like an angry young man, although he remains at the helm of affairs!
Just like HD Devegowda, former prime minister and patriarch of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) regional outfit, he is always immersed in fulltime politics and is less known for having any varied interests of reading, listening music or watching live theatre and cultural shows.
He is also accused by fellow party men of being guided by a coterie of close confidants with utter disregard to overall interests of the party. This feature looks to be a characteristic of the BJP leader who took oath as chief minister on the names of the state farmers.
In fact the attitude of yielding to group politics made him pay a heavy price during his first stint as a full fledged CM in 2008. Gali Janardhan Reddy brothers infamous for mining scams rebelled in open and took many BJP MLAs’ to Hyderabad and Goa resorts demanding change in leadership.Allowing Rs 30 crores to be paid to a family owned educational institution by the Jindal Group of companies became the biggest blunder of BS Yediyurappa in his political life. He also went to jail for 26 days because of the pitfall.Later he formed his own Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) to teach a lesson to the BJP for having tormented him. The party won just 06 seats but managed to garner a 10.5 percent vote which was enough to defeat the BJP candidates in more than 45 constituencies thus paving way for a Congress party government during 2013.
However, much before 2014 Parliamentary polls he was roped in and made state party president and allowed to contest from Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency. He triumphed by winning with a huge margin of 3.22 lakh votes which was also the highest winning margin in the state.
He again returned to the state politics on the eve of 2018 Assembly elections but fails to get the required majority of 113 seats and stumbles once again by being sworn in as the CM but puts up his papers for failing to prove majority on the floor of the house.
He doesn’t sits quite after demitting office and keeps on forecasting the dates for fall of the JDS-Congress alliance government. According to HD Kumaraswamy, the previous CM: The BJP succeeded in its attempts to dislodge the coalition government in the seventh attempt.
Thanks to 14 Congress and three JD-S MLAs’ who submitted their resignation letters to the Assembly Speaker and got holed up in Mumbai and Lonawala luxury hotel and resorts, the HD Kumaraswamy led government is voted out on the floor of the house.
BS Yediyuurappa is sworn in as the new CM and also proves his majority on the floor of the house. But the real trouble starts from then onward. He is made to wait for more than three weeks to form the cabinet and another handful of days to announce the portfolios.
A new precedent is set by nominating three light weight ministers as Deputy Chief Ministers neglecting other seniors and their hard work for strengthening the party in the state. These are all clear cut indications to prove the decline of BSY’s political power although for namesake he continues to remain the CM.
His detractors are jubilant now that none of the CM’s whims and fancies is working these days. Although he was entrusted upon the responsibility of winning 22 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats from the state the people of the state chose to elect 25 of them. Ms Sumalatha, independent candidate supported by the BJP also emerged victorious in the Vokkaliga heartland.
Yet his recommendations for inclusion of state MPs’ to the Union Cabinet were ignored, lament BSY’s supporters.
Many regions of the state were under water due to the floods caused by heavy downpour and water released from the Koyna Dam in Maharashtra. The lives of floodwaters victims were literally marooned by gushing waters and were screaming for relief materials and financial compensation.
Pralhad Joshi, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Dharwad MP, when queried by media persons about the Central Government aid to the state, he shot back: Karnataka Government has not submitted any proposal in this regard so far!
Later Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister, Amit Shah, Union Home Minister and national BJP President and a team of officials visited the state to assess the situation. It’s more than two months after all the procedural wrangles but not even one rupee is released yet.
There is no official word from the Union Government about the prolonged delay in releasing funds for the national disaster. A similar situation had arisen during 2008 when Dr Manmohan Singh was the prime minister. He paid a visit to the state, aerially surveyed the affected parts and had also announced financial aid.
Thanks to these and many more reasons BS Yediyurappa is a sad man today for sitting in the all powerful seat but not being able to come to the rescue of the common man in the desired manner.
-Manohar Yadavatti
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