B. S. Yeddyurappa

B. S. Yeddyurappa
Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa
19th Chief Minister of Karnataka
In office 30 May 2008 – 31 July 2011
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	D. V. Sadananda Gowda
Constituency	Shikaripura
In office 12 November 2007 – 19 November 2007
Preceded by	H. D. Kumaraswamy
Succeeded by	President's rule
Personal details
Born	27 February 1943 Bookanakere, Mandya
Political party	Bhartiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)	??
Religion	Hinduism
Website	http://yeddyurappa.in
As of 28 May, 2008

Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa (born 27 February 1943^[1]) is an Indian politician who was the 19th Chief Minister of Karnataka and is currently president of karnataka BJP . He is a member of the 16th Lok Sabha of India and represents the Shimoga constituency. He became the Chief Minister of Karnataka after leading the BJP to a victory in the 2008 Karnataka Assembly election in 2008. He was the first person from the BJP to become the Chief Minister of a South Indian state.^[2] Owing to alleged ill-treatment meted out to Yeddyurappa by the BJP High Command, he left Bharatiya Janata Party. Later he formed Karnataka Janata Paksha.^[3][4] However he merged it with BJP and joined the party again.^[5]

Personal life

Yeddyurappa was born on 27 February 1943 in a village called Bookanakere in K.R.Pet taluk of Mandya district.^[6][7] His parents were Siddalingappa and Puttathayamma. He was named after the presiding deity of a Shaivite temple built by the great saint Siddalingeshwara at Yediyur in Tumkur district.^[8] His mother died when he was four.^[2] He completed his Pre-University College education from PES college, mandya.

In 1965, he was appointed as a first-division clerk in the social welfare department but he quit the job and moved to Shikaripura where he joined as a clerk at Veerabhadra Shastri's Shankar rice mill. In 1967, Yeddyurappa married Mythradevi, the daughter of the rice mill owner.^[9] He later set up a hardware shop in Shimoga. Yeddyurappa has two sons, Raghavendra, currently member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly representing Shikaripur Assembly Constituency and Vijayendra and three daughters, Arunadevi, Padmavati and Umadevi.^[10] In 2004, his wife died after falling into a sump while drawing water.^[11] In 2007, he changed the spelling of his name to its current spelling from the earlier "Yediyurappa" following the advice of his astrologers.^[12]

Political career

Having been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from his college days, Yeddyurappa's public service began when he was appointed as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the 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.^[10] 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.^[1] 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.^[13]

His first stint in power when he helped was 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.^[14] He was credited with presenting good budgets and for initiating various welfare programs such as the Bhagyalakshmi scheme, bicycles for students, a ban on arrack and farm loan waivers.In 2003 he came to mudabidri for election campain,sadiq was there in mudabidri

However, in October 2007, when it was Yeddyurappa's turn to become Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy refused to 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.^[15] 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.^[16] 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.^[17]

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 margin of more than 45,000 votes.^[18] He also led the BJP to a historic victory in the state and Karnataka became the gateway for the BJP in south India.^[19] He took the oath of office as Chief Minister on 30 May 2008.^[20]

However, the Karnataka Lokayukta^[21] investigating the illegal mining case submitted its report^[22] indicting Yeddyurappa for illegally profiteering from land deals in Bangalore and Shimoga,^[23] and also in connection with the illegal iron ore export scam in Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka.^[24] Following much pressure from the BJP central leadership,^[25] he announced his decision to quit.^[26] Finally, he resigned on 31 July 2011.^[27]

He resigned from his position as Member of Legislative Assembly and primary membership of Bharatiya Janata Party on 30 November 2012, and formally launched the Karnataka Janata Paksha. Although the party and its name were registered in April 2011, Yedyurappa actually launched it in 2012.^[28][29] He is elected as MLA from Shikaripura Constituency (Shivamogga district) in 2013 May.

In November 2013, it was announced that he was considering an unconditional return to the BJP.^[30] On 2 January 2014 he announced merger with BJP ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections.^[31] He won from the Shimoga seat of Karnataka in the Indian general election, 2014 by a margin of 363,305 votes.^[31]

Latest News

Now Again BJP has appointed him as a President of Karnataka pradesh

After the high court quashed former governor HR Bhardwaj’s sanction to prosecute BS Yeddyurappa, a special Lokayukta court on Monday struck down four other FIRs against him. Earlier last week, in a major relief to Yeddyurappa and BJP, Karnataka High Court had set aside the sanction given by then Governor HR Bhardwaj for his prosecution in several cases of alleged illegal denotification of land, and asked the incumbent Vajubhai Vala to have a fresh look at it.

The High Court said: Non-consideration of the relevant matters made the order of sanction illegal and resulted in failure of justice. We are thus of the opinion that the exercise of the power by the Governor was not in accordance with well-settled principles for sanctioning prosecution. We accordingly set aside the order of sanction, dated January 21, 2011, and remit the matter back to his Excellency, the Governor for reconsideration in the light of our discussions above.

Allegations were made against him that he had used his official position to favour his sons in the allotment of land in Bangalore. One acre of land at Rachenahalli in Bangalore was purchased by his family for Rs 4million (approx US$95,000) and was re-sold to a mining company for Rs. 200million ($4.8 million), resulting a significant profit.^{[32][33][34][35][36][37][38]} To refute the charges, Yeddyurappa declared his assets estimated at Rs. 53.8million^[39] – including 2.5kg of gold and 76kg of silver – to show that neither he nor his family members were involved in any financial irregularities. His assets were declared to be Rs. 18.2million in 2008, indicating a 292% increase in three years.^[39][40]

In January 2011, two lawyers of the Karnataka High Court Sirajin Basha and K N Balraj approached the Governor seeking his permission to prosecute Chief minister Yeddyurappa and the Governor H.R. Bhardwaj sanctioned their request.^[41]

The Lokayukta report submitted on 27 July 2011 stated that there is sufficient evidence to indict Yeddyurappa and recommended his prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act over various land deals.^[42] In addition, it also stated that there is evidence to prove that he had granted illegal mining licenses to mining companies and benefited through them.^[43] After accepting the Lokayukta report, Governor Bhardwaj again approved the prosecution of Yeddyurappa^[44] and the Karnataka High Court also allowed the police to question him.^[45][46]

Yeddyurappa was arrested^[47] on the evening of 15 Oct 2011, hours after the lokayukta court issued an arrest warrant in two cases of corruption for illegally denotifying land in and around Bangalore.^[48][49] Later, He was granted bail on 8 November 2011 after spending 23 days in jail.^[50]

However, in March 2012,the High Court of Karnataka quashed the FIR registered against him regarding the Mining scam. A division bench of high court of Karnataka passed the order stating that "Suspicion cannot be a ground to tarnish the image and reputation of a person who is holding a Constitutional post. Even during the course of argument, a specific question was put to Lokayukta counsel to produce any material to connect the petitioner for alleged offences, but he was mum and did not indicate any favours shown by Yeddyurappa as the chief minister to any mining company".^[51] In May 2012, the Supreme Court, temporarily stayed the case on this matter and ordered an official CBI enquiry, to be completed within three months.^[52] On 25 July 2012, Karnataka High Court granted anticipatory bail to Yeddyurappa in a case relating to alleged irregularities in denotification of government land in 2009.^[53]

Other cases were: Justice K N Keshavanarayana of High Court quashed the complaint alleging encroachment of land in Bhadra Reserve Forest by Yeddyurappa and others on 5th Feb 2013 ^[54] Karnataka High Court quashed a case registered against him for irregularities in the Upper Bhadra irrigation project on 10th Oct 2013 ^[55]

References

1. "B. S. Yediyurappa". Online webpage of the Legislative Bodies of India. Government of India. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
2. "Yeddyurappa's journey from farming to chief ministership". Online Edition of The Hindu dated 12 November 2007 (Chennai, India). 12 November 2007. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
3. The Hindu : States / Karnataka : Yeddyurappa quits BJP, Assembly.
4. PTI. "Yeddyurappa lashes out at Gadkari". The Hindu.
5. "BS Yeddyurappa announces merger of his party with BJP". IBNLive.
6. "Yeddyurappa to become BJP's first CM in South". Archived from the original on 27 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
7. "B. S. Yediyurappa". Online webpage of the Karnataka Legislature. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
8. Pradeep Kaushal. "Many yatras later, finally there". Online Edition of The Indian Express, dated 11 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
9. "Fascinating journey of a reformist". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 27 February 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
10. Bookanakere ecstatic for its victorious son, Page 6, Times of India, Bangalore Edition, dated 12 November 2007
11. "Yediyurappa bereaved". Online Edition of The Hindu, dated 17 October 2004 (Chennai, India). 17 October 2004. Archived from the original on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
12. "Parade done, over to Raj Bhavan, Path cleared for BJP reins". Online Edition of The Telegraph, dated 30 October 2007 (Calcutta, India). 30 October 2007. Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
13. "Yediyurappa elected BJP leader in Assembly". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 10 June 2004.
14. "JD(S), BJP form coalition Government in Karnataka". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 3 February 2006.
15. "Kumaraswamy not to step down; BJP Ministers submit resignations". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 3 October 2007.
16. "Yeddyurappa sworn in Chief Minister". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 12 November 2007.
17. "Yeddyurappa quits rather than face trust vote". The Hindu (Chennai, India). November 20, 2007.
18. "Yeddyurappa humbles Bangarappa". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 26 May 2008.
19. "BJP set to form government in Karnataka". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 26 May 2008.
20. ABC Live – Online News, Breaking News, World News, National News,India News,Abc News – Yediyurappa Takes Oath as Karnataka CM
21. Karnataka Lokayukta. Lokayukta.kar.nic.in. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
22. Full text: Lokayukta report on illegal mining in Karnataka – Documents News – IBNLive. Ibnlive.in.com. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
23. "Dubious deal which landed Yeddyurappa in trouble". Times of India. 28 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
24. "Karnataka 'mining scam' report indicts chief minister". British Broadcasting Company. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
25. "Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa agrees to quit after BJP's 'unanimous' order". Ndtv.com. 28 July 2011. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
26. "YedduRappa Aggres to Quit".
27. "Yeddyurappa sends resignation to Gadkari, to meet Governor". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 31 July 2011.
28. "BJP's new opponent in Karnataka is Yeddyurappa's KJP". www.oneindia.com.
29. Yeddyurappa joining Karnataka Janata Party for sure, claims founder.
30. "Yeddyurappa offers unconditional merger with BJP". The Times Of India (Bangalore). 15 November 2013.
31. "BS Yeddyurappa announces merger of his party with BJP". Bangalore. 2 January 2014.
32. "Yeddyurappa family got land at throwaway price". The India Daily. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
33. Dubious deal which landed Yeddyurappa in trouble – Times Of India. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
34. Karnataka: Yeddy lands in more trouble : NATION: India Today. Indiatoday.intoday.in (19 November 2010). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
35. Ambitious sons led to BSY's downfall – Times Of India. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
36. Yeddyurappa's new land scam exposed. Ndtv.com (23 July 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
37. BSY is CM number 1 in corruption: Siddu – Times Of India. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com (13 January 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
38. "New land scam entangles yeddy". New land scam entangles yeddy. Sify. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
39. Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa declares assets. indiatoday.in (7 February 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
40. The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News. Tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
41. Governor OKs prosecution of Karnataka CM. The Asian Age (22 January 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
42. Yeddyurappa files petition before Lokayukta over mining report, The Hindu, 2 August 2011
43. Illegal mining scam: Karnataka CM in soup after indictment. Asian Tribune (22 July 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
44. Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj sanctions BS Yeddyurappa's prosecution – Economic Times. Economictimes.indiatimes.com (4 August 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011
45. B S Yeddyurappa can be questioned in corruption cases: Court | PRAVASI TODAY : NRI NEWS : NRI HELP. Pravasi Today (22 July 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
46. Double blow for Yeddyurappa: Faces illegal mining charge, court case. Deccan Chronicle (21 July 2011). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
47. "Bangalore : Yeddyurappa arrested for corruption, sent to jail". ICARE Live. 15 October 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
48. "Ex-Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa surrenders". Economic Times. 16 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
49. "Before surrendering, Yeddyurapp". The Times of India. 16 October 2011.
50. "Yeddyurappa gets bail, will leave jail soon". Ndtv.com. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
51. "Big relief for Yeddyurappa as HC quashes FIR in mining case – Bangalore – DNA". Dnaindia.com. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
52. "Probe Yeddyurappa's role in illegal mining, Supreme Court tells CBI". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 11 May 2012.
53. "BS Yeddyurappa gets anticipatory bail in land denotification case". The Times of India. 25 July 2012.
54. "HC dismisses land grab case against Yeddyurappa". Firstpost. 5 February 2013.
55. "Judge lets off BSY, but BJP won’t let him in yet". Deccan Chronicle. 10 Oct 2013. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2016.

• Karnataka janatha Paksha Karnataka (http://www.kjpkarnataka.org/)

External links

• Yeddyurappa's personal Website