|
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.
|
Comments
|
Quick links