New Delhi: B S Yeddyurappa has returned to BJP after merging his KJP with his parent party.Yeddy, as he is popularly referred to, was BJP's strongman in Karnataka, but intra-party wranglings and questionable land deals brought about his political downfall.BJP had to pay a heavy political price after Yeddyurappa's breakup from the party, with the politically strong Lingayat community ditching the party. It was Yeddyurappa who gave BJP a historic win in the 2008 Karnataka Assembly elections, and allowed the saffron party to find a strong foothold in the South. But his quarrels with his associates notably Anantha Kumar, led to Yeddyurappa's exit. We give you here some interesting facts about Yeddyurappa's personal and political journey so far:Born in a village called Bookanakere, his full name is Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa named after a deity of a Shiv temple by saint Siddalingeshwara. He started off his career as a first-division clerk in the social welfare department. But after working there for a while, he quit his job and joined Shankar rice mill as a clerk. The mill was owned by Veerbhadra Shastri. After working there he opened his own hardware shop in Shimoga.Yeddyurappa married Mythradevi who was the daughter of Veerbhadra Shashtri, the rice mill owner. Together they have 5 children, two sons Raghavendra and Vijayendra and three daughters Arunadevi, Padmavati and Umadevi. His wife died after falling into a sewer.Yeddyurappa spelt his name as `Yediyurappa' before he took an advice from his astrologer who suggested him to spell his name as `Yeddyurappa'.Yeddyurappa has been associated with politics since his college days. As a part of Rashtiya Swayamsevak Sangh he was appointed as the secretary of Sangh's Shikaripur unit. He played a prominent role in coalition with JD(U) leader H D Kumarswamy to bring down the Dharam Singh's government in Karnataka.In 2010, Yeddyurappa was charged with allegations of allotting lands on prime locations to his sons misusing his position as the chief minister. However, Yeddyurappa denied all allegations and gave opposition an open challenge to investigate and find his black money.He launched his political party, Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), after he resigned from BJP in 2012. He launched his party in 2012, a year later he got his party registered in 2011.His party fared poorly in the last Karnataka assembly polls.
