NEWSMAKER: BS Yeddyurappa

From a week to a full term

Had he continued with what he set out to do, he would have retired as a head clerk in a government department. But he chose to tread a different path. Today, he is ready to head the government in Karnataka.

The just-concluded assembly poll has delivered a double bonanza for the 65-year-old Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa. Not only has his party (BJP) succeeded in expanding its footprint in south India, but it has also made him the heir-apparent to the chief minister's post.

"I have fought many battles in the last four decades, I deserve the top job," says a candid Yeddyurappa, while his detractors jeer him as a leader in a great hurry. A joke went around during every election on how Yeddyurappa rushed to his tailor to get a brand new white safari suit stitched in anticipation of the CM's post. But the jokes don't dampened his spirit.

"I wanted to bring my party to power in Karnataka. It was a dream of our party leaders Vajpayee and Advani. I have succeeded now," says Yeddyurappa. He excels in using tears "" he shed some after the JD(S) pulled the rug under him during his seven-day stint as CM in November 2007 "" to evoke sympathy among voters, a major factor that catapulted the BJP to power.

But Yeddyurappa's journey has been less than smooth. Born in an agricultural family in the sleepy Bookanakere village in Mandya district, he started his career as a daily wage worker in the social welfare department. But he hit the political track when he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1965 and moved to Shimoga district's Shikaripura, where he settled after marrying the daughter of a rice mill owner.

Yeddyurappa's popularity scaled when he undertook a 300-km yatra for bonded labourers from Shikaripura to Bangalore in 1982. A year later, he made his debut as an MLA on a BJP ticket. Of the seven assembly elections that he has contested, he has won six. With every victory, he emerged as a pro-farmer leader and consolidated votes of the dominant Lingayat community to which he belongs.

Later, he partnered former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's son Kumaraswamy in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government. He presented two budgets in which he waived interest on farm loans obtained from cooperative banks, distributed bicycles to girl students and banned the sale of arrack and lottery. As his popularity rose, CM Kumaraswamy's fears grew. Subsequently, the coalition collapsed.

Ditched in the power game, Yeddyurappa did not go into depression. He chose to intensify his fight. Undertaking a tour of the state, he urged the people to give his party a chance.

As he began to gain acceptability, he became the party's poll mascot. BJP general secretary and strategist Arun Jaitley observes: "We knew how powerful Yeddyurappa was, so we declared him as the chief ministerial candidate. In fact, it was for the first time in the country that the BJP projected a pro-farmer face as its CM candidate." When the poll results were out last Sunday, a smiling Yeddyurappa said: "It is my time now."

Those close to him pray that he does not lose his temper as CM. His long-time aide says: "He is very stubborn and loses his cool if things don't work the way he wants them to. You have to interact with his gunmen and assistants to know what his anger means." However, Yeddyurappa reasons: "I am also a human being, I too have emotions."

On his priorities as CM, he says: "Development is my agenda. But as Yeddyurappa is flanked by the powerful mining lobby and the real-estate players, the moot question is: "Development for whom?"