BS Yeddyurappa was forced to step down as Chief Minister in 2011 over graft charges, following which he quit the party to form his own outfit, Karnataka Janata Party. (PTI file photo)
A week after former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa took over as the BJP chief the Congress government of Karnataka has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court in the land cases against him. He had been accused of illegally denotifying land in favour of his relatives.
Mr Yeddyurappa, who has been got a clean chit by the High Court in most of the corruption cases against him, said he is confident.
"That is expected. They want to take revenge against me... For 6 months he has been waiting... After I became president of the party, he has taken his decision," Mr Yeddyurappa said. "I am not at all bothered about it because I have got 100 per cent confidence in the judiciary."
Asked about Mr Yeddyurappa's charges, home minister Dr G Parameshwara said, "Law has its own course."
Mr Yeddyurappa had been forced to step down as the BJP's first chief minister in South India following the corruption charges against him. After he surrendered before the Lokayukta, he was jailed in October 2011, till he got bail three months later.
But most of the corruption cases against him -- from profiting from illegal iron ore mining to irregular land deals that benefitted his family -- were quashed.
Meanwhile, the BJP's tallest leader in the south quit the party to form his own Karnataka Janata Party, and returned only in 2014. In his absence, the BJP had lost power in the state assembly in the last elections. The party now hopes that the return of the Lingayat strongman will give it renewed vitality in the state it has described as its "gateway to the south".
"This is the fourth time he has become the president of the party. In 2008, he brought the BJP to power the first ever time in south India. I think he will repeat the performance in 2018," said senior BJP leader from the state and Union minister Ananth Kumar.
Mr Yeddyurappa said this was indeed the target he was given for the 2018 polls. "Our aim is to get absolute majority in next election," he said.