BANGALORE: It is a sad state of affairs for former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa these days. Yeddyurappa has gone from being choc-a-bloc with work a few months ago to becoming a jobless, who now only attends private functions of MLAs.
“Oh, what a fall,” was the comment made by one of the party members. Whether it is a sarcastic jibe or a bonafide concern, it summed it all—if Yeddyurappa wants to have his say then he can go his own way. The RSS has turned their back on him because of his tantrums and theatrics to come back to power. To add to Yeddyurappa’s woes, his successor Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda now enjoys the blessings of the Sangh Parivar. Therefore, Yeddyurappa is left with very few option to bide his time.
Except for discussing with his advocates who are fighting numerous cases in various courts and meeting his close confidantes, Yeddyurappa has very little role to play, either in the day-to-day affairs of the government or that of the party. This has forced him to say that he is jobless and would only attend private functions organised by the legislators.
However, no matter what his comments are, ministers and legislators who are his ardent supporters continue to meet him and discuss the future course of action.
In the meeting held on Thursday with the RSS bigwigs—M C Jayadev, K Narahari, D M Ravindra, K Prabhakar Bhat and Mangesh Bhende—it was made clear to Yeddyurappa that he will have to “accept the reality” of being out of office till “opportune moment” comes. Realising that the odds are staked against him, Yeddyurappa—a shrewd manipulator who has handled many such situations before—suddenly became docile and started to maintain a low profile. “Discretion is the better of valour” is the dictum that Yeddyurappa has chose to follow. An advice believed to have been given to him by Bhartiya Janata Party national president Nitin Gadkari.
More than the cases of corruption against Yeddyurappa it is the tough stance taken by BJP supremo L K Advani that is creating obstacles for his comeback as the chief minister of the state. Adavani told the party that he would rather remain silent than defend a chief minister who stands chargesheeted. It is also being said that party national general secretary Ananth Kumar—Yeddyurappa's bete noire—has played a major role in Advani taking this decision against him.
As if rubbing salt into his wounds, Sadananda Gowda openly made a statement that it is his government and he would like to have a free hand to govern. This has come as a shocker to Yeddyurappa.
Taking a cue from the recent statement made by Gowda and state BJP President Eshwarappa that they can themselves look after the people through out the government and the party, Yeddyurappa said at a function, “In this background, I am rendered jobless.”
Of late Yeddyurappa has also been seen attending many religious functions, organised by various mutts across the state. His itinerary says that in the next coming days he is going to be chief guests in different programmes convened by various cultural organisations.