Narendra Modi's birthday gift to B S Yeddyurappa: You're my CM

Bengaluru: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi all set to attend state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa's 75th grand birthday celebrations in Davanagere on Tuesday, it will not only scotch all speculation that the BJP's venerable leader was not going to be the party's chief minister nominee, it will simultaneously signal to the Lingayats that their leader, Mr. Yeddyurappa was not going to be used just to win the Lingayat vote but would go on to serve as the chief minister even though he was over the PM's 75 years age limit.

Mr Yeddyurappa's campaign has been plagued by reports that the BJP high command was only using him, a poster boy for the Lingayat community, to win the sizeable Lingayat community votes, and that once the BJP formed the government he would be replaced by the BJP president Amit Shah's favourites, either Ananth Kumar Hegde or the RSS leader Santhosh.

The Prime Minister's presence at Mr Yeddyurappa's birthday celebrations would help send a message to Lingayats, who voted the BJP to power in 2008, that the party would back the former chief minister at a time when voters belonging to the numerically significant community were being wooed by the Congress which was offering to work for a separate religion status for Lingayats.

Sources in the state unit of BJP said Mr Modi will make a fervent pitch to farmers at the Davangere rally and  spell out the several benefits proposed in the Union Budget in a bid to wean the farmers away from the Congress.