Dr. Bokanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa,is an Indian politician and the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka, sworn in on 30 May 2008. He belongs to the BJP and represents Shikaripura in the Karnataka legislative assembly. He became the Chief Minister of Karnataka after the BJP's success in the 2008 Karnataka Assembly election. He was also briefly Chief Minister in November 2007 before the coalition government with Janata Dal (Secular) collapsed. He is the first person from the BJP to become the Chief Minister of a South Indian state. Yeddyurappa's stint in public life began when he was appointed as the secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Shikaripur unit in 1970. In 1972, he was elected as the President of the Taluk unit of the Jan Sangh. In 1975, he was elected as the President of the Town Municipality of Shikaripur. He was imprisoned during the Emergency in India between 1975 and 1977 and was lodged in the Bellary and Shimoga jails. In 1980, he was appointed as the President of the Shikaripur taluk unit of the BJP and he later went on to become the president of BJP's Shimoga district unit in 1985. In 1988, he became the President of the BJP unit of the state of Karnataka. He was first elected to the lower house of Karnataka Legislature in 1983 and has since represented the Shikaripur constituency five times. He has been a member of the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Legislative Assemblies (lower house) of Karnataka. In the Tenth Assembly, he was chosen as Leader of Opposition. In 1999, he lost the elections but was nominated by the BJP to become a member of the legislative council (upper house) of Karnataka. He learnt his initial steps of leadership, development of mass base and human resource management from the RSS, and suuccessfully applied these lessons in action when he decided to lead various mass movements in the state, highlighting the problems faced by landless farmers and bonded labourers. Yeddyurappa undertook a padayatra of bonded labourers from Shikaripur to Shimoga in 1981. Two years later, the party fielded him in the Assembly polls and he became one of the 18 BJP winners. He has won five elections from the constituency since, losing only once, in 1999. In between, he became the state president of the BJP twice, and a national secretary in 1992. A perennial ‘yatri’, like L K Advani, he has led a Cycle Yatra, Sankalp Yatra, Save Gramrajya Yatra, Save Cauvery Yatra, and a Bagairhukam Kisan Yatra, mainly to highlight the problems of peasants. Successfully led the Farmers March (Raitha Jatha) from Basavana Bagewadi to Bangalore City during 1988. Successfufly led the Farmers March (Raitha Jatha) from Basava Kalyan to Bangalore City. Led one more Farmers March to Bangalore City from Banavasi. Successfully fought against the Government and prevented the introduction of the Bill aimed at the eviction of unauthorized cultivators (Late B. Rachaiah as Forest Minister had attempted to introduce the Bill). Successful march from Shimoga to Bangalore City for the cause of "Save Grama Rajya". (Sri L.K. Advani had inaugurated this 18 day long march on feet-Pada Yatra in 1994. Successfully led the Farmers March to "Save Cauvery" from Talacauvery to Kannambadi (K.R.S). He rose to prominence when he helped Janata Dal (Secular) party's H. D. Kumaraswamy to bring down the coalition government of Dharam Singh. Kumaraswamy formed the government with the help of the Bharatiya Janta Party in Karnataka headed by Yeddyurappa. A deal was struck between the Janata Dal (Secular) and Bharatiya Janta Party, which specified that H. D. Kumaraswamy would be the Chief Minister for the first 20 months, after which Yeddyurappa would become to Chief Minister for the remaining 20 months of the current tenure of the Legislature. Yeddyurappa was nominated as the Deputy Chief Minister as well as the finance minister in Kumaraswamy's Government. However in October 2007, when Yeddyurappa's turn of becoming the Chief Minister was supposed to start, Kumaraswamy refused to resign from the post of the Chief Minister. This forced Yeddyurappa and all of the ministers from his party to resign and on October 5, he met the governor and formally withdrew the BJP's support from the government. Karnataka was put under President's rule which was revoked on November 7. During the period of the President's rule, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janta Party decided to bury their differences and this paved the way for Yeddyurappa to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Yeddyurappa was sworn in as the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka on November 12, 2007. However, JD(S) refused to support his government which made him to resign on November 19, 2007. In Karnataka's 2008 Assembly elections, Yeddyurappa contested from Shikaripura against the Samajwadi Party's S. Bangarappa, another ex-Chief Minister. The Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) did not field a candidate in the constituency and backed Bangarappa, but despite this, Yeddyurappa won the seat by a margin over 45,000 votes. Under his leadership, the police are strictly enforcing the 1967 law, which requires that bars be closed by 11:30pm In December 2008, Yeddyurappa has been conferred with Honorary Doctorate from US based University Saginaw Valley State University. Dr B.S Yeddyurappa on 30 May 2008 took oath of State 28th Chief minister after the recently held assembly elections.
