Good bye, Yeddy: welcome Yeddyurappa

He walked away in style; his own style. Call it Yeddy style.

Yeddy is a survivor face of the fighter B S Yeddyurappa. Yeddy is a jester; Yeddyurappa the king.

When he took to street to tender his resignation, on Sunday, he was both: Yeddy and Yeddyurappa. He walked a walkable distance from the Race Course Road residence to the Rajbhavan flanked by a handful of ministers, MLAs, and MPs. That is Yeddyurappa. He managed to set his right foot in the governor’s office right before the start of raahukala at 4.30 pm (he checked out his watch thrice along the stretch). And that is Yeddy.

There was no streak of shyness, when he said he was waiting for the end of ashaada maasa to put in papers as he didn’t want to do a good or a bad thing in the supposedly inauspicious month. No remorse to keep the voters and his party high command on tenterhooks in the period. Don’t talk about administration. It’s a forgotten thing.

A farewell should be on a good note. But, you can’t help but to describe his tenure as the darkest period in Karnataka political history. Never before black magic made news as it hit headlines, when he was the chief minister. The government was not controlled by bureaucrats or politicians. Sorcerers, soothsayers, temple priests had taken over.

People got to know the temples, and the rituals they had never heard. The tendency people took it as entertainment value to start with grown into disgust. They did not laugh, when Yeddyurappa did a naked suryanamaskara on an amaavasya. A chief minister baring it all in a bid to save his chair is not a mere joke to laugh about.

His temple going was deception. He decieved himself by trying to believe the rituals would cleanse his wrong doings and ensure him power for ever. His frequenting to the religious places were surely not due to his religiousness. The greed and anxiety made him embracing superstition. Had he been a true religious, he would have never scripted the swearing farce at Dharmasthala.

He never concealed the brazenness, when it comes to caste feeling and nepotism. He was the first chief minister and the finance minister, who chose to feel proud after earmarking Rs. 12 crore to fund for Lingayat matts in the state budget. Lingayat is not just a caste or community he born in, but his political trump card. He was at his cool to justify gifting BDA sites to the family members as the same was done by his predecessors.

It is unfortunate that he became a synonym to corruption while his predecessors were bigger crooks. But, the way he exposed himself was beffitting.

He might be naïve to claim a Nobel for his efforts to curb iron ore export, but he can’t get the prize because the intention of his noble deed was indeed ignoble: kick the ladder after scaling the height. He wanted the Reddys out of his sight after they lent money and muscle gained out of despoiling Bellary.

He wanted a doctorate for his knowledge over state finances as he was so innocent to believe his budgets were such a innovation that no economist in the world can think of. Who else can imagine a separate budget for farmers on whose name a chief minister taken the oath? Innovation was that to create a make belief budget regardless of bankruptcy of the government. The populist schemes could never come out of the budget papers as there was no money left after the chief minister invested it on ‘operation lotus’ and by-elections resulted from it.

He deserved a doctorate as he was well versed with Adam Smith’s basic economic principles tweaked: economics is all about accumulation of created wealth. The kin accumulated it and grown wealthy. A sycophant had managed one for him by calling him one the greatest economists in the world. It was such a joke that it made even Yedyurappa blushed, who then requested people not to call him Doctor Yedyyurappa after an obscure foreign university bestowed it on him.

His critics think him he is a philistine. But, ask his muses. Don’t talk about Shobha Karandlaje, she is the significant other. Glam dolls getting plum posts, lady leaders presented with G-category sites are there to say he was never dull and dry. But, what about Maithra Devi’s mysterious demise? Can the world know the truth at least now?

The greatest change we noticed in Yeddyurappa after he came to power: he was a fire ball when in the opposition, and a cold blooded schemer when in the ruling. Which is among them is the real face?

Why, his spoken English is remarkably improved. A man, who was struggling to lisp a word, can now deliver a brief speech. You should have seen how he tackled a reporter, who interviewed him on NDTV amidst the crisis last week.


When profiling Bookanakere Siddaliangappa Yeddyurapppa as a departing chief minister, the RSS and Hindutva are not coming into mind. Not his strife as a lemon seller on bicycle to grow into a mass leader. Not his crusades he led for the farmers. Not his struggle to build the BJP from one-member party to the ruling party in Karnataka and to establish the first saffron government in South India.

Why no thanks for Him? Ask him for the reply and blame him for it.


Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. We know Yeddyurappa is not a saint but a wily politician. He is fortunate to be a sinner because he still has a future. In politics, gone is never gone, and it is practical to look forward for Yeddyurappa's many more innings, not just a second one. But, can we expect him back after learning a lesson or two from the experience?

Nothing wrong in hoping. So, say good bye to Yeddy and welcome Yeddyurappa.