BJP forms Govt in Karnataka with B S Yeddyurappa Becoming 23rd Chief Minister: Trust vote on July 29

POST floor test failure by JDS-Congress Government headed by HD Kumaraswamy in Karnataka on Wednesday, July 23,  B S Yeddyurappa, former Chief Minister and BJP’s strongest leader in South India, comes back to power in his home state. Karnataka is now   BJP’s only state in Southern India comprising five states and Union Territory of Poducherry.The 76 years old  devotee of saint  Basavanna , was sworn in by Governor Vajubhai Vala, who was earlier Gujarat Assembly Speaker for two years. He had first formed BJP Government in Karnataka in 2011 when Congress led UPA government was in power. Yeddyurappa had earlier served three terms as Chief Minister of Karnataka and the Karnataka state president of BJP.A grass root worker having been associated with RSS, he resigned after being indicted over a corruption case; He was acquitted in 2016. Due to alleged ill-treatment meted out to Yeddyurappa by the BJP High Command, he left BJP and formed his own party, the Karnataka Janata Paksha. However, in 2014 he merged his party with the BJP and was subsequently elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from the Shimoga constituency which he quit after being elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in May 2018.On 17 May 2018, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, his third term in the office. Unable to get a majority support in the Assembly, he resigned just two days after taking office. He is popularly known as “Raithara Bandhu” for his pro-farmer policies, initiatives like separate agriculture budget in Karnataka Government during his chief ministership. He was born on 27 February 1943 in a village called Bookanakere in K.R.Pet taluk of Mandya district. His parents were Siddalingappa and Puttathayamma. He was named after the presiding deity of a Shaivite temple built by the great saint Siddalingeshwara at Yediyur in Tumkuru district. His mother died when he was fours old. He completed his Pre-University College education from PES College at  Mandya.In 1965, he was appointed as a first-division clerk in the social welfare department but he quit the job and moved on to Shikaripura where he joined as a clerk at Veerabhadra Shastri’s Shankara rice mill. In 1967, Yeddyurappa married Mythradevi, daughter of a rice mill owner. He later set up a hardware shop in Shivamogga. Yeddyurappa has two sons, Raghavendra, Vijayendra and three daughters, Arunadevi, Padmavati and Umadevi. In 2004, his wife died in a mishap while drawing water. In 2007, he changed the spelling of his name to its current spelling from the earlier “Yediyurappa” following the advice of his astrologers. He is a proud follower of Basavanna. He was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh  from his college days, Yeddyurappa’s public service began when he was appointed as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Sangh’s Shikaripur unit in 1970. In 1972, he was elected to the Shikariapura Town Municipality and was also appointed as the President of the Taluk unit of the Jana Sangh .In 1975, he was elected President of the Town Municipality of Shikaripura. He was imprisoned during the emergency. He was appointed President of the Shikaripura taluk unit of the BJP in 1980, and became the president of BJP’s Shimoga district five years later. He headed  Karnataka unit of  BJP He was first elected to the lower house of the Karnataka Legislature in 1983 and has since represented the Shikaripura constituency six times. He has been a member of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth and Thirteenth Legislative Assemblies (lower house) of Karnataka.