BJP bets its all on Yeddyurappa for its re-entry in South India
Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, who faces charges of underhand dealings in the state’s biggest mining scam, will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next Assembly election in 2018. The strongman of the majority Lingayat community is facing a trial in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court for receiving bribes from a private mining company. The decision to make him the face of the Karnataka News and perhaps its chief minister candidate was taken by a party high command that is pledged to fighting corruption. The decision follows pressure by the Lingayat community after Yeddyurappa edged himself out of a slew of cases on illegal denotification of government land. The cases were quashed by the Karnataka High Court on procedural grounds, which the Supreme Court upheld. In 2011, Yeddyurappa had to step down as chief minister after his name figured in a Lok Ayukta report on a Rs 3,000 crore scam in the iron-ore ri...