New Delhi: Politicians have a long and a hard memory. They do not forget. Nor do they forgive easily. But if need be, they can be malleable as putty.
A long and arduous day lay ahead for BS Yeddyurappa as he gingerly plonked the steaming hot idlis into grasshopper green chutney before washing the morsel down with some filter coffee. Others around the table, including former minister Katta Naidu, donning the trademark karakul fur cap listened in with all attention.
At 75, the former CM was making one last bid for the top post. His party had for one made a special concession overlooking the age bar set for holding an executive position.
“I meet people every day. 365 days a week. That’s precisely which keeps me going,” BSY told a small group of journalists sharing tiffin the August morning last year.
In another fifteen minutes he was seated in his car for a day long campaign in five assembly segments in in Kolar district.
Politicians display a pugilist like tenacity. This resolve to fight back is something which probably keeps them afloat for decades, despite many crippling setbacks in their career.
BSY will hold a unique position in BJP’s pantheon of leadership party has developed in the last two decades. He was the first party CM south of the Vindhyas.
After a protracted battle with the party then controlled by L K Advani, BSY broke away from the BJP ahead of the last Assembly polls only to inflict a comprehensive defeat on the party. He could wean away as many votes as were necessary to show the BJP his political worth and hand over a comfortable victory to the Congress.
BSY returned to the party fold just ahead of 2014 general elections, won his Lok Sabha election and was hoping to find a berth in the Narendra Modi cabinet. Agriculture ministry — his close aides thought—was his next destination.
When just days ahead of the oath, an emissary from Delhi informed him that he would not be accommodated in the first BJP full majority government at the Centre.
Longevity of a politician is independent of the number of elections he wins. It depends on his capacity to remain relevant and in discourse, whether in power or in opposition.
BSY, like many others from his generation personifies that. He remained in contention. Till the very last, kept his calm even when his son was denied ticket at the last moment.
In the last seven years, BSY survived many battles- both within and outside the party- to fight another day.
Finally when it mattered the most, he’s come up trumps.
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