BENGALURU: Former chief minister and BJP patriarch BS Yediyurappa’s revelation that he will retire from electoral politics when his term as MLA ends next year has drawn the curtain on uncertainty that surrounded his future.
It also means that for only a second time in three decades, BJP will face assembly elections without Yediyurappa at the helm. He has been BJP’s default chief ministerial candidate ever since i gained prominence in the state.
A hardboiled RSS swayamsevak, the 79-year old Lingayat strongman is credited with building the party from scratch, a task he began in 1983. He eventually catapulted the saffron party to power in 2008, a first in south India. Such success is yet to be emulated in any other southern state.
Yediyurappa also holds a record for being a four-term chief minister, though he never completed a full term in office. Two of these stints lasted less than a week. But more significantly, he has ensured BJP garnered more than 50% of the 28 seats from Karnataka in every Lok Sabha election since 2004. This feat reached a peak in the 2019 elections when BJP won 25 seats.
In 2012, Yediyurappa walked away from the BJP and launched Karnataka Janata Paksha, his own party. It had a major impact on BJP in the 2013 assembly elections.
So, will Yediyurappa’s absence have an impact on the party in next year’s elections? “Not really,” said Sandeep Shastri, political scientist and vice-chancellor, Jagran Lakecity University. “When Yediyurappa relinquished the chief ministership last year, everyone knew he would not occupy any other political office. He has played the role of mentor ever since. He has promised to tour the state and campaign for BJP to help it achieve its target of winning 150 seats in the next elections.”
But how effective can he be, now that he has no position in the party? Shastri said: “The impact will depend on two factors: The role and importance the central leadership assigns him on the ground; and to what extent the leadership is willing to accommodate his demands and expectations. He has already fired one of them — the Shikaripura seat for his son BY Vijayendra.”
" But Ravindra Reshme , another political analyst, said: “BJP will have little choice but to rely on Yediyurappa to return to power because of his unparalleled influence over not only the Lingayat community, which is thought to be the single largest [17–18%] in the state, but also other caste groups. Therefore, even after his retirement from elections, Yediyurappa will continue to remain relevant.”
Viswas Shetty, a political commentator, said: “I don’t think Yediyurappa’s decision to quit electoral politics will have a major impact. He is past his prime as he will be 80 next year. He should focus on the party’s prospects rather than on his son Vijayendra as a BJP victory will automatically earn his son a cabinet berth.” But senior party functionaries and confidants say, going by his past records, it is too early to write Yediyurappa’s political obituary.
