Shri Yeddyurappa was born to Shri Siddalingappa, a farmer and Smt. Puttatayamma at Bookinakere  of Krishnarajpet Taluk in Mandya District on 27th February 1943 in the family of two brothers and two sisters .He completed his B.A. graduation in Bangalore and when he was at Bangalore for studies at the age of 15 he came in to the contact of RSS and started his service to the mother nation.

In 1965 Sri.yediyurappa went to Shikaripur in shimoga district for spreading the work of SANGHA.. He developed a good rapport with the public and people of shikaripur because of his simplicity and uncompromising dedication towords the work. He married Smt Maitradevi and is blessed with two sons and three daughters. He worked as a Sangha Karyavaha during 1970-72 . In 1972 at the age of 29 years he entered public life by becoming the Taluk president of Janasangh in Shikaripur.From 1974 to 1976 he served as the director of Veerasaiva cooperative society and rendered a yeoman’s service to the field of cooperative sector.

In 1975, he was elected as Town Municipality member of Shikaripur .During 1975 Emergency period he was incarcerated for forty five days at Shimoga and Bellary prisons. In 1977, he became Municipality President and was very popular among the public because of his people oriented out look. He was also elected as the president of Janatha party in the same year.

Sri. Yediyurappa is a born leader. He has a great concern for the farmers and the marginalized poor. He espoused the cause of 1700 bonded labourers,– led a team of 1700 Bonded labourers to the Shimoga Deputy Commissioner’s office demanding release and rehabilitation of the Bonded Labourers; because of his efforts all the labourers got money and are leading a life of freedom.

Sri.Yudiyurappa fought for upholding the rights of Bagar Hukum Farmers (Landless people who unauthorisedly cultivate Govt. lands) and prevented the Forest Department from planting Eucalyptus saplings in the lands which was in the possession of the unauthorised cultivators.

During August 1987, he traveled all over Shikaripur Taluk on Bicycle to survey the drought situation and visited all the villages to have the first hand experience of the ill effects of the drought and as a result, Government took drought relief work on war footing basis.

His work for the farmers, scheduled caste and scheduled tribes resulted in him being elected to the assembly four times successively- between 1983 and 1994. He entered Karnataka Legislative Assembly by winning in the 1983 elections. This election proved to be a turning point in his public life and shaped his political career. In 1985, he was also elected as the BJP President for Shimoga District and worked for the party’s growth. He was elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the 2nd time in 1985 Elections. He Worked as Karnataka State BJP President during 1988. He was elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the 3rd time in 1989 elections.

Since then, he has been continuously working for strengthening the party and is today recognized as one of the farmer leaders. He has been elected four times to the assembly and twice as President of the party. He has played an active role in many campaigns. He has fought for causes in the assembly and outside it too. From Basavanakalyan to Banavasi he has conducted many meetings to familiarize the BJP with rural Karnataka.

He has undertaken the Save Gramarajya Padayatra from Shimoga to Bangalore to urge the government to hold Panchayat elections.

To urge the government to write off farmers loans he travelled the entire state three times beginning from Basavana Bagewadi. In these trips, he made over 1000 public speeches.

When he was the lone BJP MLA in Karnataka assemblyss, he performed Satyagraha in the Assembly to urge the government to abolish the bill which provided for attachment of the properties of the SC/STs. He shed tears explaining the hardships faced by these groups and his efforts led to the government agreeing to his requests. It is on record that the then Forest Minister Shri Rachaiah supported him by stating that Yediyurappa had opened their eyes.

When there was a notion that the BJP is a party for urban people, Shri Yediyurappa proved people wrong by working for farmers and agriculture workers and BJP has been recognized as the farmers’ party. The BJP started growing as a parallel farmers’ organization. Recognizing this, several leaders of the farmers’ organizations joined the party, making it dearer to the farmers. Shri Yediyurappa worked very hard to endear BJP to farmers and labourers.

He became the State BJP President for the 2nd time during 1998-99.

He also worked as national Secretary, BJP during 1992. He was elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the 4th time during 1994 elections and functioned as the Opposition Leader in Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

He was elected to Karnataka Legislative Council in 2000 and remained as Member of Legislative Council (MLC) till 2004

He was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the 5th time in 2004 elections and functioned as the Opposition Leader from June 2004 to February 2006.

He was elected as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka on 3rd February 2006 in the JD(S) and BJP Coalition Government.

As Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister, Successfully presented two budgets with a thrust on Development and People welfare.

New initiatives:

Loan waiver, Abolition of Arrack and Lotteries, Farm Credit at 4% interest rate, Bhagyalakshmi Scheme to empower girl children from BPL families, Distribution of Free Bicycles to 8th Standard students from BPL families, Suvarna Kayaka Employment Training Scheme to tackle unemployment problem, Sandhya Suraksha Social Security Pension Scheme for Senior Citizens etc.

He took oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka to head the first ever BJP led Coalition Government in South India.