Hot-blooded and ‘bulldozer’ to assertive and mature — the ‘mellowing’ of BS Yediyurappa

CM B.S. Yediyurappa completes a year in office today. His 4-decade political career has been marked by controversies, corruption charges, fall out with BJP & praise for Covid handling.

File picture of former Karnataka CM B.S. Yediyurappa | Photo: Shailendra Bhojak | PTI

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa last year changed the spelling of his name by removing a ‘d’ and adding an ‘i’, apparently influenced by numerology. 

Besides the spelling of his name, Yediyurappa has changed his attitude also over the years, metamorphosing into a more mellowed and mature politician now, according to BJP leaders and political experts.

Yediyurappa, who was sworn in as the Karnataka CM for the fourth-time last year, completes one year in office on 26 July — also marking 45 years of his chequered political career.

Yediyurappa then and now 

Yediyurappa is, no doubt, the tallest BJP leader in Karnataka. But the Yediyurappa of 2020 is very different from the ‘Yeddyurappa’ of 2008 when he brought the BJP to power in south India, said party leaders.

In 2008, he was a younger, “hot-blooded” and bold chief minister, who took oath in the name of farmers. 

Yediyurappa, a staunch, Right-wing and passionate leader, was determined to do something to differentiate his BJP from that of the Congress, according to political experts.

“From an aggressive, dominating, tough taskmaster of 2008, he is now more democratic and a patient leader. Then he was a politician, now he stands at the threshold of being a statesman. In 2008, he would not care about the consequences of his decisions, now he treads carefully and seeks opinion,” said a senior BJP leader, who has observed him over the last four decades.

An example of a changed Yediyurappa is also seen in how he brought on board legislators from other parties to stabilise his governments.

In 2008, the BJP won 110 seats, three short of a majority.  But, without consulting with the central leadership, he engineered defections as part of ‘Operation Kamala’ and roped in two JD(S), one Congress MLA and a few Independent MLAs to ensure he had a stable government.

Cut to 2019, the BJP again fell short of majority in the 224-member assembly, despite winning 105 seats. The Congress and the JD(S) formed a coalition government, but a persistent Yediyurappa managed to engineer defections of 17 MLAs from both parties and toppled the Congress-JD(S) dispensation. 

During this time, Yediyurappa consulted both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and tried to convince them about why it was important to rope in more MLAs and ensure they stay in the party as well.

“He would use the help of (Union ministers) Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh as he is close to them, to build a case for him. He now persuades the top leadership with reasons as to why he needs to take certain political decisions. This was not his working style in 2008 when he would bulldoze his way through them. Earlier, he would take a decision and as a formality inform Delhi,” said a senior BJP functionary. 

Yediyurappa is now more accommodating and even allows young leaders like Tejaswi Surya, who was the central leadership’s pick in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a candidate from Bengaluru South, to help him in Covide-19 management in the state— something he would earlier not even think of doing, added the functionary. 

Dealings with BJP high command

In dealing with the BJP high command too, Yediyurappa has become more “assertive” now, instead of being coercive, said a second BJP leader.

When the party high command named two of the five candidates to be nominated to the Legislative Council earlier this week, Yediyurappa accepted it without a fight. 

“Earlier, he would adopt coercive tactics to convince the party leadership. Now, he is more assertive in his approach. His rapport with the high command remains unchanged. They too know he is the most influential BJP leader in Karnataka. It’s true that in the last few years, the leadership is closely observing his governance,” added the leader.

His relationship with Modi-Shah, however, is quite strained and that is reflected while taking decisions for the state that involve central’s interference also. 

His term in 2008 was largely seen to be tainted by corruption, but his current government is different. His deft handling of internal squabbles in his own cabinet and management of the pandemic has been much appreciated. 

When ThePrint reached former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD(S), he too agreed that Yediyurappa of 2008 is different from what he is now, but accused him of using his plans to “elevate” himself.

“The BJP and Yediyurappa of 2008 were quite different than now. Then, he had not tasted power. In 2006-07, I had made a blueprint to help our farmer brothers. Today, he is using my proposals and plans to elevate himself as a leader,” Kumaraswamy told ThePrint. 

Fighting spirit

Yediyurappa has always shown his fighting spirit even when he fell out with the BJP’s central leadership in 2011. 

He left the BJP that year to form his own party, called Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), and blamed the BJP leadership and a few state leaders for his exit. In 2014, he, however, merged his KJP with the BJP. 

Senior BJP leader and former chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council D.H. Shankarmurthy told ThePrint Yediyurappa is known for his fighting spirit and that his political life has been dotted with challenges.

“Yediyurappa loves challenges. He takes them with gusto and ensures he comes out a winner,” he added.

“He has managed his government with a cool temper. He had a short temper earlier, we all have seen it. Over the years, there is a great deal of maturity in his governance and approach now,” Shankarmurthy added.

Karnataka Minister C.T. Ravi told ThePrint that Yediyurappa has been facing one challenge after another.

“We have been facing one emergency after another. We came to power when the state was reeling under an economic crunch. Then came the floods. We successfully handled a political emergency when our 12 new MLAs won the elections. Now our party under Yediyurappa hopes to overcome this health emergency called Covid-19. We will overcome all of it, one by one,” Ravi added.

S.A. Hemanth, a political commentator who works closely with the BJP unit in Karnataka, said Yediyurappa continues to have the zest and determination to complete his agenda and promises he made to the people in 2008. “Covid-19 has come as a stumbling block, but we will overcome it,” he added. 

Senior Congress leader R.V. Deshpande described Yediyurappa as “a man with a good heart, one who is really connected with the farmers and works for their betterment”.

He, however, added that Yediyurappa’s current government lacks “homogeneity and coordination” and that the CM has been constantly struggling with internal conflicts either in his party or between his ministers.

“2008 was a different type of a government.The present government is one formed after taking it away from the Congress. I don’t see homogeneity, coordination of assertiveness in this government as compared to his team in 2008. Despite having a majority, one feels that the present government is unstable,” he said.

Forceful leader

In the absence of a strong leader in the state, Yediyurappa knows that the BJP’s central leadership cannot force him out and he revels in that power.

During his tenure between 2008-11, Yediyurappa’s political image and that of the BJP suffered a beating owing to corruption charges against him, which led to two other BJP chief ministers succeeding him in 2009 (Jagdish Shettar) and 2011 (Sadananda Gowda).

“When the Kumaraswamy-Yediyurappa coalition government fell in 2007, Yediyurappa decided to contest the elections alone and he even won the polls in 2008. That shows the power and popularity of BSY,” said a second senior BJP functionary.

Political analyst Harish Ramaswamy told ThePrint that Yediyurappa seems to be less radical in his decisions probably because of his age.

“He seems to be embracing a middle path in dealing with both the opposition and in his ideological moorings. He is now more of a fatherly figure attempting to bring to limelight his son as his heir and struggling to leave an imprint of his legacy without his footprints unfortunately,” he added.

No grand event to mark one year in office

Typically, Yediyurappa and his team would have preferred to have a grand event to showcase their achievements in the last one year, but the pandemic has put a brake on any such extravaganza. The party unit will now hold a virtual event on 27 July.

Yediyurappa’s media advisor P.M. Mahadev Prakash told ThePrint that this year things will be slightly different.

He said a brochure will be published with articles by experts, admirers on various subjects, detailing about the government’s success in the last one year in online marketing of farmers’ products, education management and the state’s handling of the Covid-19 situation, among others.

“These articles will be an objective reflection of what the experts think of Yediyurappa’s governance,” said Prakash.

BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Udupi Shobha Karandlaje said: “This has certainly been a challenging year for him. It is his maturity and experience that has made Karnataka rise above all the challenges.”

Former CM Kumaraswamy, however, added that there has been no development in the past one year.

“In this one year, we have only heard promises, we have not seen any development. I am just a silent spectator now as I want people to see and assess how the BJP has failed them,” Kumaraswamy added.