BJP's old war horse, chief minister again of Karnataka

B S Yeddyurappa, BJP's old warhorse, has kept the party's flag flying in Karnataka, considered the gateway to the south for the saffron orgastion, despite ups and downs and deserting the party for a short while.

He took oath as chief minister for the fourth time today as the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka, two of them for very short stints.

76-year-old Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa hails from Shikaripura town in Shivamogga district and had started his social-political journey from this town itself with working for RSS and Jan Sangh.

His first major political stint was as the Taluka Chief of Jan Sangh's Shikaripura unit in 1972. He, later on, rose through ranks and won his first legislative council election from the Shikaripura assembly constituency in 1983.

Between 1983 to 1994 and then from 2004 to 2013, he was elected MLA for five times and was a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) from 2000 to 2004.

Yeddyurappa was first appointed as the Karnataka state BJP president in 1988 and worked as party's national secretary during 1992.

In his fourth term as Karnataka legislator, he functioned as the opposition leader in legislative assembly during 1994.

He takes over from H D Kumaraswamy under whom he had served as Deputy Chief Minister from February 2006 to 2007 in the JD(S)- BJP coalition Government.

Yeddyurappa first took oath as Chief Minister in 2007 but could remain in the post for a mere seven days as the JD(S) withdrew support and President's rule was imposed in the state. However, he gained fame for heading the first-ever BJP led coalition government in south India.

He again made way to the coveted post in 2008 after the elections but owing to corruption charges failed to complete a full term. During this term, he held the post from May 2008 to July 2011. He had to resign following accusations of corruption in illegal land deregulation notification scam. He was jailed for some time.

Thereafter in 2012, Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat leader, formed a new party "Karnataka Praja Paksha" vowing to defeat BJP but rejoined the party before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in which he got elected from Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency.

In 2018 after the elections returned a hung verdict in which the BJP emerged as the single largest party, the BJP veteran again jostled his way to the top post but could not rule for more than a week as he could not prove his majority when the Congress and JD(S) got together.

A staunch party loyalist, he had on Wednesday visited the office of RSS in Chamrajpet, Bengaluru, to take the blessing of senior leaders of Sangh Parivar.

"I came here to take blessings of senior leaders of the Sangh Parivar. I am waiting for instructions from Delhi, at any point of time we will call for Legislature Party and then head to the Raj Bhavan", he had told reporters after the meeting.

( With inputs from ANI )