the presiding deity of a Shaivite temple built by the great saint Siddalingeshwara at Yediyur in Tumkuru district. His mother died when he was four. He completed his Pre-University College education from Government college, Mandya (Mysore University) 1960–61. He belongs to Ganiga sub-cast of veerashaiva Lingayat community. In 1965, he was appointed a first-division clerk in the social welfare department but he quit the job and moved on to Shikaripura where he joined as a clerk at Veerabhadra Shastri's Shankara rice mill. In 1967, Yediyurappa married Mythradevi, daughter of a rice mill owner. He later set up a hardware shop in Shimoga. Yediyurappa has two sons, Raghavendra, B. Y. Vijayendra and three daughters, Arunadevi, Padmavati and Umadevi. In 2004, his wife died after falling into a sump while drawing water. There was further tragedy when his granddaughter Soundarya, daughter of Padmavathi, died in January 2022 by hanging herself in Bangalore at the age of 30. In 2007, he changed the spelling of his name to Yeddyurappa from the earlier Yediyurappa following the advice of his astrologers, to change back again to Yediyurappa before oath taking ceremony on 26 July 2019. He is a follower of Basavanna. In 2020 he was infected by the COVID-19 virus but recovered soon afterwards. On 16 April 2021, he again tested positive for COVID-19 amidst India's second wave of infections. Political career Having been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from his college days, Yediyurappa's public service began when he was appointed as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Sangh's Shikaripur unit in 1970. In 1972, he was elected to the Shikaripura Town Municipality and was also appointed as the President of the Taluk unit of the Jana Sangh. In 1975, he was elected President of the Town Municipality of Shikaripura. He was imprisoned during the Emergency in India and lodged in the Bellary and Shimoga jails. In 1980, he was appointed President of the Shikaripura taluk unit of the BJP and later went on to become the president of BJP's Shimoga district unit in 1985. In 1988, he became the State President of the BJP in Karnataka. He was first elected to the lower house of the Karnataka Legislature in 1983 and has since represented the Shikaripura constituency six times. He has been a member of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth and Thirteenth Legislative Assemblies (lower house) of Karnataka. Following the 1994 state assembly elections,