Yeddyurappa in angry young man avatar

Loses his cool, slaps bodyguard after reporters ask him questions about a possible resignation over his family's alleged involvement in land scams

A series of crises rocking the government and renewed allegations of a land scam involving his son seem to have gotten on Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's nerves. So frustrated was he with reporters asking him piercing questions during a trip to Yadagiri district yesterday that he lost his cool and slapped one of his bodyguards standing next to him in full media glare.u00a0


Illustration/Jishu Dev Malakar

The CM was in the newly formed district to distribute saris to poor women as part of his populist social scheme Bhagyalakshmi. He was surrounded by mediapersons as soon as the event got over, but he tried to evade all queries.

When the reporters insisted and started bombarding him with questions like whether he would resign owing to the graft allegations, Yeddyurappa lost his cool and began to look for a way to vent his ire. He zeroed down on Rudrappa, his bodyguard, who he slapped after hurling a slew of invectives.

While the reporters were shell-shocked, Rudrappa seemed to have taken the incident in his stride. "I feel bad for the CM as he is under tremendous pressure these days," said Rudrappa. "People think the chief minister's post is coveted, but after looking at Yeddyurappa, I know how torturous the job can be."u00a0

Not the first
He added that yesterday was not the first time the CM's staff was at the receiving end of his fury (see box). "Just two days ago, he punched the driver," said the bodyguard. "The chief minister is elderly and we take it in our stride."

"The CM is terribly upset because he thinks the media is acting as a tool in the hands of his detractors. He is feeling helpless because he has not been able to counter the charges as well as he would have liked to," said a source close to Yeddyurappa.

He said Yeddyurappa was planning to attack the opposition in the next assembly session by tabling documents proving their involvement in earlier land scams. He added that officials have been asked to collect this information, while Yeddyurappa himself was coming up with strategies to counter the conspirators within the party.

"It hurts to know that your own people are scheming against you," Yeddyurappa told MiD DAY. "However, I feel sorry for the gunman and I have apologised to him."

When it began
Yeddyurappa has not been his usual self since addressing a press conference he had called on Monday to clarify certain issues in the wake of allegations made against his family members for their involvement in land scams.

He got agitated when the reporters mentioned the house that his son and MP B Y Raghavendra was building on the controversial BDA site after illegally amalgamating it with an adjacent one. Unable to answer the queries, he had abruptly stopped the press conference.