B. S. Yeddyurappa

Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa (born 27 February 1943) is an Indian politician who was the 19th Chief Minister of Karnataka and is currently national vice-president of BJP elected in August 2014 by its chief Amit Shah. He is a member of the 16th Lok Sabha of India and represents the Shimoga constituency. He became the Chief Minister of Karnataka after leading the BJP to a victory in the 2008 Karnataka Assembly election in 2008. He was the first person from the BJP to become the Chief Minister of a South Indian state. Owing to alleged ill-treatment meted out to Yeddyurappa by the BJP High Command, he left Bharatiya Janata Party. Later he formed Karnataka Janata Paksha. However he merged it with BJP and joined the party again.

Personal life

Yeddyurappa was born on 27 February 1943 in a village called Bookanakere in K.R.Pet taluk of Mandya district. His parents were Siddalingappa and Puttathayamma. He was named after the presiding deity of a Shaivite temple built by the great saint Siddalingeshwara at Yediyur in Tumkur district. His mother died when he was four. He completed his Pre-University College education from PES college, Mandya.

Subramanian Swamy

Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician from the state of Tamil Nadu. He is also an economist and a former cabinet minister. He was the President of the Janata Party. He merged his party on 11 August 2013 with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Swamy had served as a member of the Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of India. He has written on foreign affairs of India dealing largely with China, Pakistan and Israel. He is also a published author.

Earlier in November 1978, Swamy was member of the Group of Eminent persons called to Geneva to prepare a report of the United Nations (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)) on Economic Co-operation between Developing countries (ECDC). Swamy also simplified trade procedures and formulated a new export strategy which became the forerunner of trade reform adopted subsequently. In 1994, Swamy was appointed as Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade by then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. This was perhaps for the first time that an Opposition Party member was given a Cabinet rank post by the ruling party. He also serves as chairman of the Board of Governors of the SCMS Group of Educational Institutions in Kerala.