Yediyurappa reigns supreme in Karnataka with missing second-rung leadership

When B S Yediyurappa had turned 75 on February 27, 2018, he refused to celebrate his birthday. Posters wishing him ‘a happy 75’ were pulled down but some admirers of the Karnataka chief minister second-guessed the reason for his sullenness and made him a year younger, 74, on billboards. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had unofficially imposed an age cap of 75 on holding public offices. By the unstated norm, which led to the creation of a margdarshak mandal for those who crossed 75, Yediyurappa could have been pensioned off that year. But he lived to see another day. Last Thursday, two years older, he was beset with no such worry.

Yediyurappa hosted a grand birthday bash at Bengaluru’s Palace Ground to which his predecessors, including S M Krishna, H D Kumaraswamy, Siddharamaiah, Jagadish Shettar, and DV Sadananda Gowda, were invited. Rajnath Singh, defence minister, was the chief guest. 

Captain Ganesh Karnik, former political aide of Yediyurappa, spoke effusively of his ex-boss as anarghya, which in Kannada means “priceless”. “He proved he’s invaluable in the BJP when he delivered 12 of the 15 seats (in the December Assembly by-polls) despite obstacles,” said Karnik. “All those who won sought Cabinet berths, but he managed that exercise deftly.” 

A source close to the chief minister put paid to the periodic speculation arising over Yediyurappa’s continuance in the government. “He shouldn’t make an egregious blunder. Otherwise, the high command won’t disturb him because it has not raised a second rung leadership.” 

There’s more than a grain of truth in the observation. Just as the Bihar BJP remains yoked to Sushil Kumar Modi, deputy CM, the party’s search for another chieftain in Karnataka remained futile. However, Yediyurappa’s “centrality” has not rendered him the most popular person in the Karnataka BJP. 

The optics that leapt up during his birthday jamboree revealed one major problem and that was his younger son, B Y Vijayendra. To some, Vijayendra, who is 37 and state general secretary of the BJP’s youth wing, is the veritable CM. Guests scrambled to click selfies and kowtow to him. 

“Yediyurappa reigns, his son rules. Vijayendra runs the government. Senior ministers stand in his presence,” noted a Bengaluru-based political observer. Haveri-Gadag MP Shivkumar Udasi pointed out not for nothing the Yediyurappa scion was hot property. “Vijayendra was in charge of the recent by-elections. Under his stewardship, we won three seats that  had a Vokkaliga (a dominant caste, which is traditionally loyal to the Janata Dal-Secular) majority electorate. Young Vokkaliga voters shifted to the BJP. Had he been given the ticket against Siddharamaiah from Chamundeshwari (in the 2018 state election), he would have won and got the BJP three or four additional seats in the Mysuru region,” Udasi claimed.

While campaigning in Mandya’s K R Pete, Vijayendra projected himself and his father as the “sons of the constituency” because K R Pete is Yediyurappa’s birthplace. The pitch resonated with the voters.

The second big fault line showed up when Yediyurappa expanded his Cabinet on February 7 after holding several “consultations” with Amit Shah, the Union home minister. He inducted 10 of the 12 who won the by-polls and all of them were defectors from the Congress and the JD(S) whose support facilitated the way for forming a BJP government in Bengaluru. The “reward” unsettled the BJP’s old-timers who chafed on not being accommodated.

Around 20 “disgruntled” legislators called on senior minister Shettar. Their visit coincided with the buzz that the Delhi bosses were considering replacing Yediyurappa by Shettar.  Umesh Katti and Shankar Patil Munenakoppa, MLAs from Hukkeri and Navalagund, were among those who met Shettar and articulated their resentment. The next day Shettar visited the CM to clarify that the reports suggesting a “revolt” were “far from true”.  

“Shettar is a nobody in politics. Nobody will stake his future on him. These disgruntled legislators used the meeting as a ruse to draw Yediyurappa’s attention to their problems,” the political observer said. The ploy worked, as last week the CM said he would absorb three veterans in the government. 

Among the challenges in the government that confronted Yediyurappa were a less-than-robust exchequer, high expectations from the Budget among farmers, development slowdown, and inadequate use of the previously allotted Budget funds to various departments.

“Governance is about the political leadership ensuring that budgetary allocations are properly used. On this score, the Yediyurappa government has been a let-down,” a BJP source admitted.

All eyes are on the Budget, which will be presented on March 5. “Yediyurappa always gives soft focus to his Budget. It may be called populist. But populism, sops, and freebies help when the economy is not doing well,” a BJP source said.