By IANS,
Bangalore : A staunch Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man, B.S. Yeddyurappa, who was jailed Saturday in corruption cases, once worked as clerk in a rice mill before his rise to become Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) first chief minister in south India.
On Saturday, he became Karnataka’s first former chief minister to be jailed for corruption. He had quit the post July 31 this year following Lokayukta’s indictment in the illegal mining scam in the state.
Born Feb 27, 1943 to Siddalingappa and Puttathayamma in Bookanakere in Mandya, about 80 km from here, Yeddyurappa moved from RSS to Jan Sangh in 1972.
He made Shimoga district, about 280 km from here, his political base and entered the assembly for the first time from Shikaripura in that district in 1983. He has been representing the constituency since then, losing only once in 1999.
Yeddyurappa joined hands with Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) group led by H.D. Kumaraswamy to form the first JDS-BJP government in the state in 2006. Kumaraswamy became chief minister and Yeddyurappa his deputy.
The coalition fell apart in 2007 after Kumaraswamy showed reluctance to hand over power to him as per an agreement reached at the time of forming the coalition.
Yeddyurappa turned Kumaraswamy’s action as “betrayal” of politically powerful Lingayat community to which he belongs. Kumaraswamy is from another politically strong Vokkaliga community.
The BJP came to power for the first time in Karnataka and south India for the first time in 2008, though with the help of six Independents as the party failed to get a clear majority. It won 110 seats of the 225-member house that includes one nominated member.
Yeddyurappa became chief minister May 30, 2008. BJP hailed the day as opening the doors of south India for the party to rule. Generally, the BJP has been seen as a party with a base in parts of western and northern India.
It was not a smooth journey for either Yeddyurappa or BJP as there were three rebellions and various scandals including one minister, Haratalu Halappa resigning after he was charged with raping his friend’s wife in Shimoga.
The mining scam involving the Reddy brothers — G. Janardhana, G. Karunakara and their associate B. Sriramulu, who were ministers in the Yeddyurappa cabinet, followed.
In January this year Governor H.R. Bhardwaj shook BJP and Yeddyurappa by granting permission to two Bangalore advocates to launch criminal proceedings against him for illegally denotifying (freeing government land) in and around Bangalore for monetary gains.
The two advocates, Sirajin Basha and N.K. Balaraj filed five cases, in two of which Yeddyurappa was jailed Saturday till Oct 22 Lokayukta special court judge N. K. Sudhindra Rao.
Hearing in other three cases is also proceeding in Rao’s court.
Besides Yeddyurappa, his two sons, B.Y. Raghavendra and B.Y. Vijayendra, and son-in-law R. Sohan Kumar also accused in all the five cases. The three got conditional bail Saturday. Raghavendra is the BJP Lok Sabha member from Shimoga.
Yeddyurappa has three daughters, Arunadevi, Padmavati and Umadevi.
His wife Mytradevi died under mysterious circumstances in 2004. Her body was found in a well near their house in Shimoga.