Meet new Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa

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Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B.S. Yeddyurappa took oath as the new Karnataka chief minister in Bengaluru on Thursday (May 17), hours after the Supreme Court refused to stay the swearing-in ceremony in a rare pre-dawn hearing.

The Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)] combine had moved the apex court late Wednesday (May 16) against the BJP forming government in the southern state.

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office to BS Yeddyurappa at 9 am on Thursday at the Glass House of Raj Bhavan.

Pertinently, the BJP has support of 105 lawmakers, including an Independent, while the Congress and JD(S) combine has 117 legislators in the 224-member Karnataka assembly.

A support of 113 lawmakers is needed for majority. BS Yeddyurappa has 15 days to prove his majority.

Here are 14 facts you need to know about Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa:

1. Born on February 27, 1943, Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa hails from Mandya district of Karnataka.

2. After completing his Pre-University College education from PES College, Mandya, he joined the social welfare department as a first-division clerk in 1965. However, he soon resigned from his job and moved to Shikaripura town. There he again took up a clerk’s job at Veerabhadra Shastri’s Shankar Rice Mill.

3. In 1967, BS Yeddyurappa got married to the rice mill owner’s daughter Mythradevi. She passed away in 2004 in an accident while drawing water.

4. Before joining politics, BS Yeddyurappa had also set up a hardware shop at Shivamogga city in central Karnataka.

5. Though he was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer since his college days, it was in 1970 that he joined active politics as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Sangh’s Shikaripur unit.

6. In 1988, BS Yeddyurappa was appointed the state president of the BJP in Karnataka.

7. In 1983, he was elected for the first time to the Karnataka assembly. Since then, he represented the Shikaripura constituency as many as six times.

8. He became the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly after the 1994 state assembly elections.

9. In November 12, 2007, Yeddyurappa was sworn in as the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka. However, he had to resign on Nov 19, the same year, over disagreement on sharing of ministries between the BJP and JD(S).

10. He was again sworn in as chief minister on May 30, 2008 after BJP’s historic win the in the assembly elections.

11. The taste of power did not last long as the Karnataka Lokayukta indicted him in an illegal mining case across Bangalore, Shimoga, Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga. He had to resign as the CM under pressure from BJP’s central leadership on July 31, 2011.

12. Disappointed with the BJP, Yeddyurappa quit the party on Nov 30, 2012 and floated his own party – Karnataka Janata Paksha. He was elected as MLA from Shikaripura constituency in May 2013.

13. On Jan 2, 2014, he merged his Karnataka Janata Paksha with the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections. He won from Shimoga by a margin of 3,63,305 votes.

14. He was reappointed as the state BJP president in 2016 and was named the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the 2018 Karnataka assembly elections.