Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa has his roots in a small village Bookanakere of Mandya district. As he visited his hometown on July 27 after swearing-in, we go back in history and tell you how he has risen through the ranks and the controversy surrounding the death of his wife.
Bengaluru: For most of us, Yediyurappa, the chief minister of Karnataka, would be synonymous with the town of Shikaripura of the idyllic Shivamooga district, nestled in the Western ghats.
But it would come as a surprise to know that the chief minister has his roots in Mandya district. He was born in a small village Bookanakere of KR Pet Taluk in Mandya district, Karnataka.
Born to a devout couple Siddalingappa and Putthayamma in 1943, he was named Yediyurappa after the presiding deity at the Yediyur Siddalingeshwara temple, in Yediyur of Tumakuru distict, Karnataka.
Life was certainly not a bed of roses for Yediyurappa as his mother passed away when he was just four.
After earning his pre-university education, and earning a BA degree from a Mandya college, at the age of 22, he was appointed as a first-division clerk in the social welfare department. Though he took up the job, he didn’t stay put in the profession for a long time. He moved to Shikaripura and joined as a clerk at a rice mill owned by Veerabhadra Shastri.
Joining here as a clerk was a paradigm shift in his life as the owner offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to Yediyurappa. He gladly accepted the proposal and wedded Mythradevi. The two begot five children, two sons and three daughters. While the sons have entered politics, his daughters have chosen to be off it.
By the way, Yediyurappa set up his own hardware shop in Shivamogga. But he was not satisfied with it and joined the Rashtreeya Swayamsevak Sangh and became its district unit president. It was in the year 1973 that he was elected as a member of the Shikaripura municipal council. Since then, there has been no looking back.
While Yediyuappa rose through the ranks in politics, controversies also followed him. In 2004, his wife Mythradevi passed away and the reason stated was that she drowned in a sump while fetching water.
Though the reason appeared acceptable at that point in time, there were allegations that he got her murdered.
Real Report, an online web portal states that the relations between him and his wife and her family were not cordial, and that could have probably been the motive.
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