Former Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa ‘Hands Over’ Home Turf Shikaripura To Son B Y Vijayendra

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) tallest standing leader of Karnataka and former CM B S Yediyurappa announced that he would be handing over his constituency to his son, who would contest from Shikaripura in the coming elections.

Yediyurappa, who gave up his chief ministership last year to make way for Basavaraj Bommai after engineering a victory for the party, has, in a surprise move, announced that he wouldn't contest in the coming elections.

“I will not contest from Shikaripura. Vijayendra will contest. I ask you with folded hands to ensure he wins by a huge margin,” said Yediyurappa, addressing the media after offering baagina (ritualistic offerings) at the Anjanapura dam.

Responding to media queries about Vijayendra’s contesting from Mysuru, Yediyurappa said, ‘it is true that there is a lot of pressure for him to contest from Mysuru region but since I am vacating this seat, he will contest from here’.

Yediyurappa’s political journey started from Shikaripura as the purasabha president. Between then and now, he has won the Shikaripura assembly seat eight times, including once from the party he formed, Karnataka Janata Paksha, which he then disestablished.

His son, BY Vijayendra, has been touted as the heir to his political legacy although the party is said to have refrained from giving him a seat to precisely wash its hands off this narrative of dynasty politics.

Vijayendra, is currently the state vice president of the party and was said to have engineered victories for the parties in the by-polls that were held last year, but was refused an MLC ticket to the recent council election by the centre.

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