A day after the State government bestowed Cabinet-rank privileges on former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, he declined to accept them on Sunday. The order had raised eyebrows as the veteran leader holds no statutory post and is only a legislator now.
In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Mr. Yediyurappa requested the withdrawal of the order giving him a Cabinet-rank status coterminous with Mr. Bommai’s term as Chief Minister. “I would like the State government to give me only those facilities that any former Chief Minister is given,” he said in the letter.
Such an order was unprecedented, and had been issued to keep Mr. Yediyurappa placated by the current regime, sources in the government said. It was a way to help him continue to stay in the ‘Cauvery’ bungalow of the government that he is keen on, sources said. Though the order was issued after consulting him, Mr. Yediyurappa is learnt to have changed his mind after the adverse reactions it elicited from sections of society and his own party. “The order was ill-advised and damaging to the stature of a veteran leader like B.S. Yediyurappa, so he has turned it down,” a leader close to him said.
In particular, the timing of granting such a status when the State has enforced austerity measures had raised many eyebrows in political circles.
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said while the new Chief Minister was talking of cutting down “unwanted expenditure” through austerity measures, according Cabinet rank on the former Chief Minister did not augur well. “I thought of advising Mr. Yediyurappa to not accept the offer, but he has done so himself and I welcome it,” the Congress leader said on Sunday.
