Hurt BSY bares his tortured soul
Is being born into the Lingayat community my biggest crime? I don’t deserve all this pain. I have no craving for any position and am ready to remain in jail for the next 10 years. But it is important that people know I am innocent - cried former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, pouring his heart out during the ‘Basavashree Award’ ceremony here on Tuesday.
Mr Yeddyurappa, who appeared visibly upset over sharing the dais with his successor D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who arrived almost an hour late, missed no opportunity to snub the CM. With the CEC sword dangling over his head and the fear of losing his Lingayat support base to his rival faction in the BJP and the Congress, which is wooing the community with an eye on the General elections, Yeddyurappa made an emotional outburst, recounting the ‘injustice’ meted out to him.
“I have been wrongly implicated. I respect the judiciary. But I am opposed to any unfair propaganda against me even before the case hearing. Truth will come out soon. But, I want a fact-finding committee of intellectuals to debate my case so that people get to know the truth. I will expose all those campaigning against me after the Supreme Court verdict is out,” said Yeddyurappa, also referring to Justice Santosh Hegde giving interviews even before the High Court verdict.
Mr Yeddyurappa chose to intersperse his speech with Basavanna ‘vachanas’. Attributing his downfall to his decision to tackle illegal mining, Yeddyurappa said, “For three years, I toured across the State, took progressive decisions and was responsible for curbing illegal mining. This has proved costly to me. Though I was never a casteist and worked sincerely for all sections of the people, they gave me the Lingayat tag.”
The cold war between the former and incumbent CMs found expression in their speeches. While Gowda sat through BSY’s speech in silence, Yeddyurappa walked out of the venue in haste, when Gowda stood up to make his speech. Showing no signs of discomfort, the CM said, “No person should believe whatever he says or does is always right. Public life demands the ability to make adjustments and be cordial. We can do justice to Basavanna’s ideals by practicing self-introspection rather than commenting on others. .”
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