NEW DELHI: After Saturday, BS Yeddyurappa’s records will say that he has been chief minister “for days” at least twice.
BSY, as he is usually referred to, held the CM post for just seven days in November 2007 as he had to step down after a grand swearing-in ceremony when ally JD(S) broke the alliance due to disagreement over portfolio sharing.
Of course, the hardened political leader returned to office in 2008 after assembly election in the state, when he led BJP to a historic victory in the state and opened the gateway to the south for the saffron party, a region where it still has very little presence.
However, the
Karnataka Lokayukta, that was probing the illegal mining scam, submitted its report indicting
Yeddyurappa for illegally profiteering from land deals in the state. Following pressure from the BJP central leadership then headed by LK Advani, BSY announced his decision to step down. He finally resigned on July 31, 2011.
BSY’s first stint in power was when he helped JD(S) leader HD
Kumaraswamy bring down the coalition government headed by
Congress leader Dharam Singh and form an alternative government with BJP.
An agreement took place between JD(S) and BJP, which specified that H D Kumaraswamy would be chief minister for the first 20 months, after which BSY would take over for the remaining 20. But that was not to be as JD(S) leader refused to let go off his chief ministership when it came to BSY’s turn to be CM in October 2007.
During the Kumaswamy regime, BSY was the state’s deputy CM as well as finance minister. This forced the BJP cabinet to resign and on October 5, the party withdrew support to the Kumaraswamy-led JD(S) government.
Following this,
Karnataka came under President's rule which was revoked on November 7, 2007 as JD(S) and BJP decided to bury their differences in what was a short-lived alliance for both parties.