BENGALURU: Leading BJP to the doors of power, 75-year-old BS Yeddyurappa has tripped again. Forced to quit as the Chief Minister within 55 hours of taking oath, Yeddyurappa has been third time unlucky. "Fortunate favours the brave," it is said, but not with Yeddyurappa. Accepted by even his political rivals as one of the very few real mass leaders the state has seen, Yeddyurappa has earned the ignominy of "Dho Din Ka CM'"(CM for just 2 days), the shortest in the state so far.
His two earlier stints as CM too had ended mid-way on a bitter note. He made it to the coveted post for the first time on November 12, 2007, and his stint lasted for just seven days owing to break-up in the BJP-JD(S) coalition as former CM H D Kumaraswamy refused to transfer power to BJP breaking the 20:20 month power sharing pact he had struck with BJP.
Yeddyurappa's second stint as CM lasted for 3 years and 62 days after he was sworn in on May 30, 2008. He had to quit after he was charged in the illegal mining and land denotification cases. The regime made its mark more for the dubious ways used to turn the 110-member minority government into majority through "Operation Lotus." The Lokayukta Report of justice Santosh Hegde on illegal mining scam dealt a big blow to BJP government's credibility as many ministers, including Yeddyurappa, had to go to jail. Yeddyurappa's third innings as CM too met the same fate even before he could settle down in the coveted seat.
Yeddyurappa started his political career as a councillor of Shikaripura town municipality and he was elected president of Shikaripura town municipality in 1975.
Yeddyurappa entered the state assembly for the first time in 1983 and is now the senior most member of the house along with R V Deshpande — both are now eight-time MLAs. His fight for the cause of farmers and hard work made him the natural choice to head the party and became the leader of the opposition in the assembly in 1994.
In 1999, when he lost the assembly election, he became an MLC and again in 2004, he returned to assembly as leader of the opposition.
He entered national politics in 2014 as the party leadership wanted him to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Shivamogga.