After return to BJP centrestage, Yediyurappa faces setback as POCSO probe looms amid LS polls

In January 2021 in Karnataka, shortly after the then BJP chief minister B S Yediyurappa inducted seven new ministers into his Cabinet, a row broke out with some BJP dissidents alleging that the CM was “blackmailed” with a private video to make some of these appointments.

The buzz about such a video, which had been doing the rounds since the BJP came to power in 2019, petered out after the party high command replaced Yediyurappa with Basavaraj Bommai as the CM in July 2021, citing the age of the veteran leader.

With barely a few weeks left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections now, Yediyurappa, 81 — who has again emerged as a decisive force in the selection of the BJP candidates from the state — has landed in a fresh controversy following the announcement of the first list of 20 party candidates.

On March 14, a complaint was lodged with the Bengaluru police by the mother of a 17-year-old girl, alleging sexual harassment of her daughter by Yediyurappa. The police registered a complaint under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and section 354 A of the IPC. The case has been transferred to the CID for investigation.

Yediyurappa has rejected the allegation, calling it false. On March 15, he said: “Around one or one-and-a-half months ago, they (victim and her mother) came to my house seeking help. After listening to her, I called city police commissioner B Dayananda over the phone seeking to address her problem. Later, they spoke against me and I then suspected there was some health problem with her. I sent them to the city police commissioner’s office. I even gave her some money as they were in trouble. I came to know that an FIR has been registered and will look into it. But this is what I have faced in