Bangalore: Agitated Yeddyurappa Hits Minister, Hurls Laptop

Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Aug 2: If reports are to be believed, caretaker Chief Minister (CM), B S Yeddyurappa, could not control his bad temper for which he is known for, and slapped a minister close to him on Sunday.

A defiant Yeddyurappa, who was unable to bear the humiliation of having to yield to pressure brought on him by the central leadership as well as people on whom he reposed his faith to resign, is said to have given vent to his frustration by slapping a minister who had woken him up from his sleep, as the time set for his resignation approached. Yeddyurappa also accused the minister concerned of creating problems for him, by working in tandem with some of the ministers. He also abused another minister, who was present at the time at his home, reports said, which declined to identify the ministers concerned.

The incident occurred on Sunday evening. On the same day, during the course of his meeting with the central observers of the BJP in a hotel here, he reportedly banged a laptop belonging to senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member, Venkaiah Naidu, to the floor. At the time, Naidu was trying to coax the CM to fall in line with the instructions conveyed by the central leadership of the party. It is understood that the CM could not handle the fact that Naidu, who always stood by him, betrayed the trust and sided with the central leadership and the local leaders, who were trying to unseat him.  Apart from expressing his reluctance to back Yeddyurappa, Naidu is said to have advised some important ministerial colleagues of the CM to press for his removal.

Yeddyurappa, who was forced to climb down from his defiant stand because of BJP national leader L K Advani’s insistence on remaining absent from Lok Sabha session that began on Monday unless the CM resigned, has been seething with anger since then. The BJP high command’s stubborn stand against accepting his nominee as the next CM has added fuel to his fury.

Both the incidents happened in the presence of a number of BJP party men. The CM, who had in the past too, behaved errantly on several occasions, had been advised by the high command to control his temper. The above incidents clearly indicate that he has been unable to do this. At the end, these incidents may do further harm to his future political ambitions, analysts opine.