BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa became Karnataka’s 29th Chief Minister on Thursday, swearing in the name of ‘God and farmers’.
The swearing-in ceremony was held amid contention by the JD(S)-Congress combine, which maintained that it was unethical to allow BJP to form the government when, although it was the single-largest party, it lacked a majority. The BJP has been given 15 days to prove its majority.
In the May 12 Assembly elections, the BJP won 104 seats, the Congress 78, and the JD(S), 37. One seat went to the BSP, one to the Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party, and another to an independent candidate.
Yeddyurappa wore a green shawl as a symbol his government’s commitment to farmers. Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to him at the ceremony held in the Raj Bhavan.
‘Will prove majority soon’
Addressing reporters after assuming office, Yeddyurappa expressed his gratitude to the SC, ST and OBC communities for supporting the BJP and for helping him be CM for the third time.
To a question, he said the BJP would prove its majority in the Assembly much before the 15-day deadline that it had been given by the Governor.
“I am 100 per cent confident that I will succeed in this mission and that my government will complete its five-year term.”
To a question as to how he expects to get numbers to form a stable government, Yeddyurappa said, “I will seek the support of all legislators to form government for taking forward the development work in Karnataka. I will ask each and every elected MLA to vote for me by exercising their conscience vote, just as Indira Gandhi did for the presidential election in the 1960s.”
Yeddyurappa said his government would implement the BJP’s promise of a farm-loan waiver in a day or two.
BJP sources said the rest of the Cabinet would be sworn after the floor test. Interestingly, none of the prominent BJP Central leaders, including party President Amit Shah was present at the ceremony. Only Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar (the BJP’s election in-charge of Karnataka), Ananth Kumar, DV Sadananda Gowda, JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan were present.
Party sources attributed this to the fluid political situation in the State, where the JD(S)-Congress combine has taken exception to the BJP forming government, claiming that it had the majority in the Assembly.
Alliance protests
Congress leaders, led by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda and JD(S) State President HD Kumaraswamy staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue at the Vidhana Soudha premises against the subversion of democratic norms by the BJP. Immediately after the dharna, newly-elected MLAs were frisked to a resort on the outskirts of the city.
From clerk to CM
Yeddyurappa, after completing his Grade 12 (class 12) from PES College in Mandya was appointed as a first-division clerk in the social welfare department. He later quit it to start a rice-husk business, which led him to Shikaripura, where he joined a local rice mill as a clerk.
Yeddyurappa began his political journey in the 1970s, when he was appointed as the Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Shikaripura unit. He later got elected to the Shikaripura Municipality and was also appointed the President of the taluk unit of the Jana Sangh. He was elected President of the Municipality and later chief of the BJP’s Shivamogga district unit in 1985. In 1988, he became the BJP’s State President.
In 1983, he was elected to the Karnataka Assembly and has since represented the Shikaripura constituency six times.
His first shot at power was during the coalition government of the JD(S)-BJP, in which he became deputy chief minister and chief minister.