B S Yeddyurappa says he will win back Karnataka for BJP

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The former chief minister, who is now a BJP MP, had shown his discontent last week over the delay in his appointment despite the tenure of the previous state unit chief, Prahlad Joshi, coming to an end in March. Yeddyurappa stayed away from the first half of a meeting of the BJP’s state executive meeting on April 1 in what was seen as a sign of protest over the delay in his appointment.

“Though top party leaders like Amit Shah were in favour of appointing him as the state president immediately, some RSS leaders were of the view that the appointment must take place closer to the elections. The view in a section of the party and among some RSS leaders was that the ruling Congress could bring fresh corruption cases against Yeddyurappa to target him,” a source associated with Yeddyurappa said.

An offer to join the Narendra Modi cabinet in New Delhi was made to Yeddyurappa but the Lingayat leader insisted on being given the reins of the party in Karnataka, sources said. “Yeddyurappa was not interested in the offer of a ministry since it will mean losing his grip on state politics and also would result in difficulties in Delhi since he does not speak Hindi,” a source said.

Following his appointment on the occasion of Ugadi — the Kannada New Year — Yeddyurappa wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the BJP national leadership’s decision had given him a boost. “When your decisive leadership has vowed to make our country a super powerhouse in the eyes of the whole world, I don’t have any doubt to bring back Karnataka into BJP’s cache during next election under your guidance,” he wrote.

Yeddyurappa led the BJP to power in Karnataka in 2008 and was made the chief minister but was forced to quit in 2011 after he was named in a Lokayukta investigation report into illegal mining activities in the Bellary region of Karnataka. A series of corruption cases were subsequently filed against him on matters relating to denotification of government land and illegal mining.

While most of the cases have been quashed by the courts on technical grounds — including

15 FIRs filed by the Lokayukta police — he and his two sons are currently under trial in a case for allegedly receiving Rs 20 crore in bribes to facilitate mining favours to a private company. The case is being prosecuted by the CBI.

According to sources close to Yeddyurappa, he is of the view that the Congress government in Karnataka would not risk bringing fresh cases or reviving the old ones against him since this could result in a Lingayat sympathy wave for him and the BJP.

Yeddyurappa quit the BJP in 2012 after being sidelined in the party after his exit as chief minister, and floated the Karnataka Janata Party. The BJP suffered a humiliating loss in the 2013 state polls.

He began conciliatory moves with the BJP after Modi was anointed the party’s PM candidate in 2013. He merged his KJP with the BJP in January 2014 in the run-up to the parliamentary polls.