BSY and BJP: A symbiotic relationship | Economic Times

Outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa was always his own man who would pay heed to BJP central leadership only when pushed to the brink. The BJP high command, from the LK Advani era to the present, knew he was their only hope in coming to power in the southern state, while the undisputed head of Lingayats was well aware that without the backing of the saffron party he would be reduced to a mere caste leader.This led to a symbiotic relationship between Yediyurappa and the BJP central leadership. But it was a blow hot, blow cold one in which there were bitter fights and several ups and downs over a decade and a half.Even after being forced to hang up his boots, Yediyurappa has had his way with the appointment of Basavaraj S Bommai as his successor. Bommai, a Sadaru Lingayat who started his political career with the Janata Dal before joining BJP in 2008, is considered very close to Yediyurappa. His name was acceptable to the BJP top brass as they did not wish to alienate the loyal 16-17% Lingayat votes by antagonizing Yediyurappa who still has a lot of damage potential.It would be interesting to see how much say Yediyurappa will have with Bommai in the top post. BJP may make the 78-year-old a governor in some state to keep him out of Karnataka.Having strong roots in the RSS, Yediyurappa deserves the credit for BJP’s growth in Karnataka. He is the tallest leader of Lingayats, a community that has shown unflinching loyalty to BJP -- provided Yediyurappa was at the helm -- for almost two decades. However, he never let principles or ideology come in the way of achieving power or other goals, a trait that caused some discomfort to the BJP central leadership.His detractors, from late union minister Ananth Kumar to national general secretary (organization) BL Santosh, within Karnataka BJP also used their good offices with Delhi to cause trouble for him. Kumar always had the blessings of Advani who never liked Yediyurappa. Yediyurappa launched Operation Lotus- which involved Congress and JDS MLAs resigning and contesting on a BJP ticket- after he became chief minister of a government short of a clear majority in May 2008. The BJP central leadership looked the other way as it was thrilled at the party forming the first government south of the Vindhyas.The May 2008- July 2011 tenure was a tumultuous one for Yediyurappa. He faced the first rebellion from the Karnataka unit of BJP when the Reddy brothers -- mining barons from the state who enjoyed the blessings of Sushma Swaraj since the time she contested the Lok Sabha elections against Sonia Gandhi from Bellary in 1999 -- demanded in 2009 that he step down. They also wanted his close associate and minister Shobha Karandlaje to quit. But the CM had his way with the central leadership bowing to his wishes.The chink in Yediyurappa’s armour were a slew of corruption cases against him, from arbitrary land denotification to anomalies in mining contracts. When Nitin Gadkari became BJP chief in 2010, he tried to rein in Yediyurappa. There were several late-night meetings at Gadkari’s residence to sort out issues, but when he was indicted by the state Lokayukta, Gadkari asked him to quit in July 2011.BJP’s experiments with Sadananda Gowda, an honest Vokkaliga who was not very effective as CM, to Jagadish Shettar, a Lingayat, did not work. Yediyurappa quit BJP in November 2012 to float his own party, Karnataka Janata Paksh.Both BJP and Yediyurappa had to pay the price of this fallout in the 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections which was won by the Congress. The Lingayats had stuck to Yediyurappa. Political compulsion brought the two together again and Yeddyurappa joined BJP on January 2, 2014 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.In 2018, Yediyurappa managed to form the government despite BJP not having a majority. He used his old formula of getting Congress MLAs to resign and contest on a BJP ticket.Age, graft and nepotism became Yediyurappa’s nemesis and a section of Karnataka BJP ensured his ouster from the chief minister’s chair. The 78-year old leader has crossed the unwritten age-limit of 75 set by BJP for its office holders. He had also antagonized state unit BJP leaders who were hopeful of becoming ministers as he had to give cabinet berths to Congress rebels. Promoting his two sons -- Shivmogga MP BY Raghvendra and BY Vijayendra -- in politics over others also won the ire of the central leadership.