BS Yeddyurappa arrives at the BJP office in Bangalore
BS Yeddyurappa today made a grand comeback to the BJP, the party he quit a year ago alleging betrayal, vowing to 'forget the past' and win big in Karnataka in the upcoming national election.
Mr Yeddyurappa, who won the BJP its first government in the south six years ago, walked out of the party and formed his own outfit, the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), after the BJP refused to reinstate him as chief minister following charges of corruption in the mining scam.
Both the BJP and the KJP failed to make an impact in last year's Karnatala polls as Congress returned to power in Karnataka. Today, he merged the KJP with his party of 40 years.
"I made a mistake leaving the party. We will forget the past. I have forgotten that I went to the KJP. You please forget that too. We need to cross 20 seats from Karnataka in this Lok Sabha election," said the former chief minister, addressing a sea of supporters at the BJP office in Bangalore.
"I am ready to take any assignment given by the BJP, to travel around the state," he said, declaring that he was "100 percent" sure of being cleared of corruption charges.
Mr Yeddyurappa, a powerful leader from the influential Lingayat community, is a known
Narendra Modi loyalist and his return was expected ever since Mr Modi was named the BJP's presumptive PM in September.
"The only hope in the country is Narendra Modi because people are disappointed with the Congress rule in the country," Mr Yeddyurappa said earlier this week. (
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Last year, Mr Yeddyurappa had declared that the Gujarat chief minister should be the prime ministerial candidate over party veteran LK Advani, who had led a section in the BJP that called for his resignation as Chief Minister following charges of corruption in a mining scam.