Narayana Swamy
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, May 13: The Supreme Court's decision to order a CBI investigation against Yeddyurappa in the South West Mining kickback scam has indeed created waves in Karnataka’s political arena. If the anti-Yeddyurappa camp feels that Yeddyurappa's political career is over, the pro-Yeddyurappa camp feels “Yes, Yeddyurappa is down for the moment, but he’s still not out!”

The first reaction from his son, Member of Parliament B Y Ragavendra, “The political fight and legal fight are two different issues. Law will take its own course and we have tremendous faith in our legal system. BSY will come out clean. Meantime, he is politically stronger than ever, and even the people of Karnataka are with him.”

Yeddyurappa is not the first Karnataka chief minister (CM) to undergo CBI investigation. In 1992, the Supreme Court had ordered a CBI investigation against then Congress CM late Bangarappa in the famous 'Classic Computer Scam’. Bangarappa lost his CM’s chair and though he got a clean chit from the court, he had to wait for 11 years to get the verdict. During this period, he moved from one party to other, and never got the opportunity to get the CM’s post or any top positions in the state or at the centre.

Will Yeddyurappa Go The Same Way?

One cannot predict the future of Yeddyurappa's political career. The 70-year-old Lingayat leader might now play his caste politics stronger than before. He is a popular leader among the Lingayath community in Karnataka and can turn the tables of the BJP within no time. His charisma in electoral politics has worked well and the BJP high command is aware of this very well.

Yeddyurappa’s move post the Supreme Court decision is still unclear but his camp has already started moves, and hectic meetings are going on at the residences of ministers, MLAs, and MPs supporting Yeddyurappa.

According to sources, there are 18 MLAs and 7 ministers are already camped with him.

At the moment, Yeddyurappa has not revealed his future plans, but kept saying, “I will decide after consulting with my supporters, I cannot let them down. I will take their guidance and move accordingly,” he reportedly told the RSS chief whom he met in Bangalore on Saturday morning. 

The BJP high command has requested the state RSS chief to convince Yeddyurappa not to take any decision in a hurry.

Some sources say that the high command cannot ignore Yeddyurappa so it may give the state leadership of the BJP unit to Yeddyurappa and make Eshwarappa the deputy chief minister of the state. In this case DVS will continue to be CM. This formula if accepted, will make the three major communities happy in the state—Lingayat (Yeddyurappa), Kuruba (Eshwarappa), and Vokkaliga (Sadananda Gowda)—and the trio can bring the BJP to power once again in the next election too.

On the other hand, a section of Yeddyurappa supporters are not happy with the current CM and they have started demanding the removal of Gowda from the CM’s post. The camp wants their choice of candidate as next CM. Probably Jagadish Shettar is an acceptable candidate for the Yeddyurappa camp.

According to political experts, Yeddyurappa has the following options with him

• Can wait until CBI investigation gets over
• During investigation, without expecting any major posts, strengthen the party in the state
• Can join hands with Sriramulu and Janardana Reddy
• Can destabilize the state government with his supporter MLAs
• Can form a new party and provide outside support to Congress or JD(S)
• Can demand both CM and state BJP chief posts for his supporters
• Can stay away from politics during CBI enquiry and concentrate on legal battle

On the other hand, the BJP also has some options:

• Can give moral support to Yeddyurappa in his legal battle
• Can give him the state chief post of BJP, so he will not go against the BJP
• Can ignore Yeddyurappa totally and sideline him
• Can seek JD(S) support if Yeddyurappa destabilizes the government
• Can ask senior party leaders (both state and national) to stay away from him.

The above options look good on paper, but no one can deny that Yeddyurappa is a strong political leader and he should be treated with due respect as he may be down for the moment, but not out from the political game !