Bengaluru, Aug 8 (IANS): A day after Karnataka accorded him the cabinet rank, B.S. Yediyurappa on Sunday requested Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to withdraw the same.
In his nine-line letter written in Kannada to Bommai, Yediyurappa stated that he was content to receive legitimate benefits which are accorded to a former Chief Minister. "I humbly request to our new chief minister to withdraw this order," he said.
On Saturday, the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) had issued a circular granting cabinet rank status to former Chief Minister Yediyurappa which would enable him to receive government facilities on par with a cabinet-rank minister.
The order had also stated that he would be able to receive these benefits until the incumbent Chief Minister is in office.
Accordingly, cabinet-rank facilities would entail Yediyurappa to claim benefits of a cabinet rank minister such as salary, government vehicle and official accommodation.
After his party asked him to resign as the Chief Minister on July 26 after completing two years in office, the aging BJP mascot in Karnataka, who is aged about 78 years, does not hold any official position other than being an MLA from Shikaripura constituency.
Even though there is no rule in the BJP's constitution that bars people above the age of 75 from contesting polls or holding any position, it has become a sort of the party's convention that 75 year is the age of retirement.
This unofficial rule came into play in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, The BJP, had denied tickets to several leaders as they had crossed the 75-year mark, prime among them being patriarch L. K. Advani and Sumitra Mahajan, Lok Sabha speaker at the time.
Following the same, former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel resigned from the post once she turned 75. Union Ministers Najma Heptullah and Davangere Lok Sabha member G.M. Siddeshwara also resigned once they turned 75.
Only exceptions were made in the case of Yediyurappa in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh's Kalraj Mishra in 2019, when Yediyurappa was sworn in as the Chief Minister, in July 2019.
In 2021, the BJP again made an exception in the case of 'Metroman' E. Sreedharan who was pitted by the BJP as the Kerala chief ministerial candidate against the Left party veteran Pinarayi Vijayan.