A whole week before Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde submitted his report on illegal mining in the state, the heat has been on chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, whose government has survived much turbulence in its three years in office.
Yeddyurappa had missed much of the action last week when details of the report got leaked, as he was in Mauritius on vacation with his family. In fact, his opening remarks at a press conference on his return on Monday?landing straight into a steaming political cauldron?was about the island country?s beautiful locales and how he wanted to replicate its tourism industry in Karnataka!
Over the weekend, however, the BJP was hard-pressed to defend Yeddyurappa as the Congress upped the ante on the mining issue and demanded his resignation. According to the Lokayukta, none of the political parties can claim to have their hands clean in this issue.
Yeddyurappa, at a public function on Tuesday, rued the fact that he was being accused of illegalities when he deserved a Nobel Prize for his efforts in tackling illegal mining that included banning exports of iron-ore.
Though Yeddyurappa has been confident of having his party?s backing, discordant voices from within the BJP?s central leadership through the week also proved to be louder than before. Yeddyurappa has responded to party vice-president Shantha Kumar?s suggestion that he step aside by asking BJP president Nitin Gadkari to set up a committee to probe the allegations against him.
As enquiries and accusations go, Yeddyurappa himself constituted a judicial probe to look into illegalities in the denotification of land and allotment of housing and industrial plots in Karnataka over the last 15 years. Meanwhile, he is challenging in court the governor?s sanction given on a petition by two Bangalore-based lawyers seeking to prosecute him for land transactions from which his family members had allegedly benefitted.
Yet, over his three-year tenure, Yeddyurappa has often bounced back from the brink even on occasions when the BJP was seen to be pushed into a corner by rival parties on allegations of corruption, an issue with which it confronts the UPA.
Yeddyurappa has survived two recommendations for President?s Rule in the state, made by governor HR Bhardwaj, after he won a controversial vote of confidence in October 2009. He held onto his position despite two rebellions by BJP legislators in Karnataka who demanded a change of leadership alleging that his style of functioning was dictatorial. What has stood him in good stead is his grip on the Lingayat community, the state?s largest voting block, which is crucial to the BJP?s fortunes in Karnataka, the first state it has won in the south.
He is nothing if not a survivor, but even his time could be up this time around.