It was a painful, long wait till he made it to the chief minister’s saddle and when he did, he could hold on to the post for only three years and two months, a tenure which was wracked by internal dissent in the ruling BJP and a flood of scam allegations involving his kith and kin and his ministers.
Whether he becomes CM or not again, Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa will remain one of the most doughty fighters Karnataka politics has even seen. Born on February 27, 1943, he started off as a clerk in a rice mill in his native village in Mandya district. After marriage, he migrated to Shikaripura in Shimoga district, where he started his political career soon after being appointed RSS general secretary in 1970.
In 1972, he became taluk president of the then Jan Sangh and served as town municipal councillor in Shikaripura in 1975. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1983 and represented the constituency as many as five times.
But when it came to the CM’s gaddi, Mr Yeddyurappa had the chagrin of seeing the post elude him again and again. The BJP first showed signs of coming to power in the early 90’s, when Mr Bangarappa was chief minister. Mr Yeddyurappa, who was Opposition leader in the Assembly, toured the entire state, vociferously championing the farmers’ cause.
In the 1999 elections, former chief minister S.M. Krishna rode to power with his Panchajanya yatra and it was disappointment again for Mr Yeddyurappa. He even lost in his home constituency and had to remain in the reckoning by entering the Legislative Council.
The turning point came during the 2004 elections, when the BJP-JD(U) combine got as many as 84 seats.
The JD(S) and Congress cobbled together a majority and formed a coalition government headed by Dharam Singh, which did not last to long. Janata Dal(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda’s son Mr Kumaraswamy split his party and formed a coalition government with BJP under a 20-20 month power sharing arrangement. Mr Yeddyurappa was deputy chief minister in this government.
The coalition collapsed when Mr Kumaraswamy refused to hand over power to the BJP. Mr Yeddyurappa made the best of the sympathy factor, crying betrayal and finally made it in 2008 when the BJP won 110 seats in the 224-member Assembly.