B. S. Yeddyurappa - Political Career

Political Career

Yeddyurappa's stint in public life began when he was appointed as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Shikaripur unit in 1970. In 1972, he was elected to the Shikaripura Town Municipality and was also appointed as 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. He has been a member of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth and Thirteenth Legislative Assemblies (lower house) of Karnataka. Following the 1994 state assembly elections, he became the 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 (upper house) of Karnataka. Again, He was re-elected in 2004 and became the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly during the chief ministership of Dharam Singh.

His first stint in power was when he helped Janata Dal (Secular) leader H. D. Kumaraswamy to bring down the coalition government headed by Dharam Singh and form an alternative government with BJP. An agreement was made between the JD(S) and BJP, which specified that H. D. Kumaraswamy would be the Chief Minister for the first 20 months, after which Yeddyurappa would become the Chief Minister for the remaining 20 months. Yeddyurappa became the Deputy Chief Minister as well as the finance minister in Kumaraswamy's Government. He was credited with presenting good Budgets and for initiating various welfare programs such as Bhagyalakshmi scheme, Bicycles for students, Ban on arrack and Farm loan waiver.

However in October 2007, when it was Yeddyurappa's turn to become Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy relinquish his post. This forced Yeddyurappa and all the ministers from his party to resign and on 5 October, the BJP formally withdrew the support to the Kumaraswamy government. Karnataka came under President's rule which was revoked on 7 November as the JD(S) and the BJP decided to bury their differences and this paved the way for Yeddyurappa to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Yeddyurappa was sworn in as the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka on 12 November 2007. However, JD(S) refused to support his government over disagreement on sharing of ministries which resulted in his resignation as Chief Minister on 19 November 2007.

In Karnataka's 2008 Assembly elections, Yeddyurappa contested from Shikaripura against former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa of the Samajwadi Party. The Indian National Congress and JD(S) backed Bangarappa, but despite this, Yeddyurappa won the seat by a of more than 45,000 votes. He also led the BJP to a historic victory in the state and Karnataka became the gateway for the BJP in south India. He took the oath of office as Chief Minister on 30 May 2008.

His Government undertook many developmental works and also initiated various welfare schemes. The Global Investors Meet in 2010 brought in commitments for investment of Rs. 5 Lakh Crore. He also, gave much preference to Kannada culture and language and also conducted a successful "Vishwa Kannada Sammelana" in 2011. Yeddyurappa gave a huge boost to friendly ties with neighbouring states when he invited Tamil Nadu Chief minister Karunanidhi for unveiling the statue of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore followed by the unveiling of the statue of Kannada poet Sarvajna in Chennai. In December 2008, Yeddyurappa was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Saginaw Valley State University, USA.

Although he was a popular leader, he had to face numerous revolts from with his party over his style of functioning. He was also criticised for generously giving away huge sums of public money to religious institutions and temples, which however earned for him the support of the seers and the devout.

In November 2010, Allegations surfaced against Yeddyurappa that he had used his position as Chief Minister to favour his sons in the allotment of prime land in Bangalore. In response, on 5 February 2011, Yeddyurappa publicly declared his assets, and then challenged the opposition parties to find any "black money". However, the Karnataka Lokayukta investigating the illegal mining case submitted its report indicting Yeddyurappa 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. Finally, He resigned on 31 July 2011.

he resigned to his position of Member of Legislative Assembly and primary membership of Bharatiya Janata Party on 30th November 2012, and formally joined the Karnataka Janata Party and lead the party in 2013 May Karnataka Assembly Elections.