After being forced to resign as Karnataka Chief Minister last year over illegal mining cases, B.S. Yeddyurappa’s troubles don’t seem to wane as the Supreme Court recently ordered a CBI probe into the three cases.
An upset Yeddyurappa decided to resign from the party. He went on to praise Congress president Sonia Gandhi publicly and criticized the central BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) leadership, after labeling Gowda as traitor. The situation simmered down when Yeddyurappa held back his decision to resign after being snubbed by Ms. Gandhi.
Yeddyurappa and corruption are now synonymous as there are evidences that speak out loud against him. During his tenure as the chief minister of Karnataka, he used his power in all wrong ways to favour a few mining companies and granting leases to them illegally. By leasing out land to a few of his favourites, he made huge personal profits. Not just this, his attitude is creating more problems for the state government and party’s national image.
Last month, when Supreme Court’s appointed Central Empowered Committee came out with its final report stating that a CBI inquiry should be ordered against Yeddyurappa in all the three mining cases, he replied, “The CEC is only a recommendatory authority, let SC take final decision.” Now, the SC’s decision of ordering a CBI inquiry might have come as a big blow to him.
Nothing against him deterred him from blackmailing the party leadership to reinstate him when he was asked to resign back then. And somehow, he got his way by choosing his successor as D.V. Sadanand Gowda.
But, as if this was not enough, Yeddyurappa has now turned against Gowda himself. He has been accusing Gowda of discriminating against his supporters as Gowda wrote a letter to the party president Nitin Gadkari accusing a few cabinet ministers of working against party’s interest in the recent by-polls for the Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat.
Yeddyurappa has been forcing Gowda to call a legislative party meeting to review the same, though the latter has rejected his demand. After which more MLAs have resigned threatening the survival of the state government. Meanwhile, the crisis has been put on hold following Yeddyurappa’s decision to keep in abeyance his decision to resign. But, looking at the present scenario and the way things have been playing out, it’s not long that the party will see another of Yeddyurappa’s antics.
It’s high time that BJP gets its act together otherwise it stands to badly lose its face in the coming Assembly elections.
Anumeha Saxena
