By Harihar Swarup
Wearing a spotless white safari suit and a dot of vermillion on his forehead, B S Yediyurappa walked out of the puja room through the corridor of his Bengaluru home. He glanced at the verandah and meeting rooms full of people, but headed straight to the cowshed in the backyard to pet the new calf before heading back in.
Come election season, the ‘Cauvery’ — the official residence of the former chief minster in the capital—is once again at the centre of all the action. The BJP has pulled Yediyurappa out of a near two—year hiatus to lead its campaign alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Just last month, Modi had walked hand in hand with Yediyurappa after inaugurating the new airport in Shivmogga, the veteran’s home turf, on his 80th birth day. It was a rare spectacle that pointed to Yediyurappa’s relevance in state politics; he is still synonymous with the BJP in Karnataka. The airport, under the centre’s UDAN scheme, is expected to boost tourism in Maland region. Yediyurappa’s return is expected to boost the BJP’s chances in the elections.
On the dais, Modi asked the audience to switch on their phone lights to show their appreciation for Yediyurappa’s contributions to the state. The camaraderie between two leaders was, as BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, “An acknowledgement of BSY’s seminal role in opening the gates of south India for the BJP”.
The gesture reasserted the Lingayat strongman’s uncontested stature as a mass leader who, like Modi, is a vote catcher. The old war horse continues to have a stranglehold on the party’s core vote bank, the Veerashaiya—Lingayat community, which makes up 17% of the state’s population and holds sway in at least 100 of the 224 assembly seats. It has given Karnataka nine of its 23 chief ministers.
It was in 2008 that Yediyurappa installed the first BJP government in South India. Now, a decade and half later, he is trying to do it again, though this time not as candidate ( he has retired from the electoral politics). Karnataka will go to the polls on May 10.
The BJP’s desperation to hold on to the Lingayat support is obvious; the community is still miffed with the party for removing its tallest leader from chief minister’s post.
The situation is reminiscent of late1980s, when the Congress, led by Rajiv Gandhi removed an veteran Veerendra Patil as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Rajiv had announced the decision to replace Patil with S. Bangarappa, a backward class leader, at the Bengaluru airport. The Lingayat community immediately switched to the BJP, never forging the Congress for such insult to their leader.
And, after the Lingayats found a strong leader who could “protect their interests”—Yediyurappa—the community never left his side.
After the 2008 victory, Yediyurappa became so popular that he overshadowed the BJP in Karnataka. He was a moderate in the party that preached Hindutva, and had the courage to take decisions independent of the national leadership.
But his tenure was matched by charges of corruption and he had to reluctantly step down as chief minister after Lokayukta indicted him of an illegal mining case.
After spending time in jail, a bitter Yediyurappa left the BJP to form the Karnataka Janata Paksha; he took with him several BJP leaders. The party contested the 2013 assembly elections and cornered 10 per cent of the votes. The BJP, reduced to 40 from 110, realized it needed him back.
Yediyurappa merged the KJP with BJP in 2014; the BJP made him state President in 2016. Under his leadership the party won 104 seats in 2018 assembly elections but could not form the government—the congress and JD(S) formed a coalition government, but it fell in 2019, thanks to BJP machinations. Earlier in the year, Yediyurappa has led BJP to win 25 of 28 Lok Sabha seats.
Two years down the line, though, there was speculation that there would be change in leadership. Yediyurappa has crossed 75 (the BJP’s cut-off age for those in office) and he still carried the scars of corruption scandal. Basavaraj Bommai was named the chief minister and he continues, but his popularity never matched that of Yedi.
Though Bommai is also a Lingayat, he has not been able to fill the vacuum Yediyurappa left behind. He has only been an administrator and his government, too, has been fighting corruption charges as the assembly elections are approaching. (IPA Service)
