B S Yediyurappa: The BJP's backbone in Karnataka

Amid murmurs of a leadership change in Karnataka, we take a look at embattled chief minister B S Yediyurappa and his long and chequered association with the BJP.

Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa (BSY) has been the backbone of the BJP in Karnataka for the last four decades. He started off as a Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Sangh's Shikaripur unit in 1970. In 1972, he was elected to the Shikaripura Town Municipality and was also appointed the president of the Taluk unit of the Jana Sangh. Yediyurappa was first elected as MLA in 1983 and has since represented the Shikaripura constituency six times. He was also appointed as president of the saffron party’s Karnataka unit in 1988. As a regional BJP stalwart, he has become chief minister on four occasions till date. However, things went awry and Yediyurappa cut ties with the BJP and formed a new party, the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) in 2012. In the next state assembly election, he made sure the BJP didn't come to power by cutting large chunk of the party’s votes. His break with the saffron party was shortlived; KJP merged with the BJP and Yediyurappa again took over as party president.