03 August,2011 09:59 AM IST | | B V Shivshankar
He walked away in his own 'Yeddy' style. Yeddy is the face of the survivor. Yeddy is a jester, Yeddyurappa the king. When he took to his tender resignation, he was bothu00a0-- Yeddy and Yeddyurappa. Flanked by a handful of ministers, MLAs and MPs, he walked a long distance from his Race Course Road residence to the Raj Bhavan.
That is Yeddyurappa. He displayed no shyness when he claimed that he awaited the end of ashaada maasa to resign, neither any remorse to keep his voters or his party high command on tenterhooks either.
A chief minister baring it all in a bid to save his chair does not sound like a mere joke to laugh about!
A farewell should be on a good note. But, you can't help but describe his tenure as the darkest period in Karnataka's political history. Never before has black magic made news. Government in his regime was controlled by sorcerers, soothsayers and temple priests, instead of bureaucrats and politicians. He deceived himself into believing that by bowing down before deities, he would be able to cleanse his wrongdoings. His greed and anxiety made him embrace superstition. People did not laugh when Yeddyurappa did a naked suryanamaskara on an amaavasya, but grew disgusted. A chief minister baring it all in a bid to save his chair does not sound like a mere joke to laugh about!
He never concealed the brazenness, when it came to caste feeling and nepotism. Lingayat is not just a caste or community he was born into, but his political trump card. He might be naive to claim a Nobel for his efforts to curb iron ore export, but he can't get the prize because the intention of his noble deed was indeed ignoble.
His critics think him he is a philistine. He was a fire ball when in Opposition and a cold blooded schemer when in ruling. Which among them is his real face? When profiling B S Yeddyurapppa as a departing CM, RSS and Hindutva do not come into picture. Nor his struggle to build the BJP from a one-member party to the ruling party in Karnataka and to establish the first saffron government in South India.
Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. We know Yeddyurappa is not a saint but a wily politician. He is fortunate to be a sinner because he still has a future. In politics, gone is never gone and it is practical to look forward for Yeddyurappa's many more innings, not just a second one. But, can we expect him back after learning a lesson or two from the experience? There's nothing wrong in hoping. So, say good bye to Yeddy and welcome Yeddyurappa.
