Yeddyurappa, a powerful Lingayat leader from Karnataka, was BJP's first chief minister in a southern Indian state, but was forced to quit hours before he was arrested in one of the many graft cases filed against him.
After his release from custody, an angry Yeddyrurappa had set up his own regional party and had managed to wean away key Lingayat votes from the BJP, that resulted in a massive loss for the party in the last state assembly elections.
His re-entry into the BJP has been criticised by the media as well as the opposition, which is now questioning the credentials of the saffron party's pre-poll campaign against corruption.
