Chitradurga, May 9 -- union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday credited veteran BJP leader B. S. Yediyurappa with breaking the long-held perception that the BJP could never emerge as a major force in South India, calling him the architect of the party's southern expansion.
Addressing a felicitation programme marking Yediyurappa's 50 years in public life, Shah said the Karnataka strongman had "opened the doors of South India" for the BJP by leading the party to its first government in the region in 2008.
"When Jana Sangh and later BJP was formed, it was widely believed that the BJP could never grow in South India. Yediyurappa broke that myth by becoming Deputy Chief Minister and later Chief Minister," Shah said.
Describing Yediyurappa as...