Help me, Yeddyurappa appeals to intellectuals

Expressing anguish over the “injustice” meted out to him, former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa made a desperate plea to the intellectuals of the State to take an objective look at the sequence of events that led to his ouster from the chief minister’s post and his subsequent arrest. He wants a fact-finding committee comprising intellectuals to “reveal the truth” behind the recent political developments.

Seated alongside his successor Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Yeddyurappa on Tuesday did not miss the opportunity to exhibit his theatrics.

Yeddyurappa and Gowda participated in the Basavashree award presentation ceremony organised by the Basava Vedike in Bangalore, where the former decried that there’s a conspiracy against him and that once he was “freed of the allegations” levelled against him, he would expose the conspirators.

Yeddyurappa’s monologue began with him reciting lines from Akkamahadevi’s vachana that said one had to endure criticism with patience, and applied it to himself saying: “I guess these lines were written particularly for a person like me.”

The BJP leader made no bones about using the platform to air out his grievances. 

“I am ready for even a ten-year jail term. I will endure the trials I am subjected to. But the fact remains that I have been wrongly implicated, and nobody wants to know the truth. It seems like it is a crime to be born in the Veerashaiva community. I am saying these things here only because I am in the presence of intellectuals. But, you give your opinions after the court gives its verdict,” said Yeddyurappa.

He said that during his three-and-a-half-year tenure as chief minister he had contributed to the overall development of the State, and had ensured that the State’s resources were “well-protected”.

“Ironically, today, I am standing in the dock. But I am confident that I will come out clean. There will come a time when I will stand before all of you and reveal the names of those who have conspired against me. If I have said anything wrong today, you can write me a letter, and I will correct myself,” he added.

Yeddyurappa also made a veiled attack on his party leaders for not coming out and supporting him, even after the High Court quashed the FIR against him.

Yeddyurappa, who was kept waiting by Gowda for more than an hour, left the venue immediately after his speech saying that he had to participate in another function.

The two did not even exchange pleasantries. In fact, when Gowda gestured towards Yeddyurappa to garland Suttur seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami, the latter refused to accept the garland. 

Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai instead took the garland from Gowda’s hand and felicitated the pontiff.

An unfazed Gowda, who later addressed the gathering, himself recited lines from a poem by Shivarudrappa. He said it was important to treat each other with love and compassion. He also said that one should not be blinded by one’s ego, a statement that was indirectly aimed at Yeddyurappa. 

“Bringing about development shouldn’t be the only criterion. Being humane too matters,” he said.

Kanavi presented Basavashri

The Basava Vedike’s ‘Basavashri’ and ‘Vachana Sahityashri’ awards for the year 2012 were presented to poet Chennaveera Kanavi and singer Kasturi Shankar, respectively.

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda presented the awards in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Kanavi, who is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, hails from Dharwad. Shankar incidentally completes 50 years of singing career in September this year. 

The Basavashri has been previously presented to Sudha Murthy, S P Balasubramaniam, Veerendra Heggade, G S Shivarudrappa, Chandrashekar Kambar, Justice Shivaraj Patil, Dr H Narasimhaiah and others.

Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, Housing Minister V Somanna, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai, and Kannada and Culture Minister Govind Karjol were present on the occasion.