Basavaraj Bommai, who was elected as the new leader of the Karnataka BJP Legislature Party a day earlier, took oath as the Chief Minister from Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. He replaced outgoing Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, ending the growing mystery of days.
The Lingayat leader from northern Karnataka is close to Bommai Yediyurappa and according to party sources, the BJP stalwart has a clear imprint in this succession plan. The son of former Chief Minister late SR Bommai, he was Minister of Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislature in Yediyurappa’s Council of Ministers, which was dissolved on Monday.
This is the second instance of a father-son duo becoming the Chief Minister of Karnataka after HD Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy. “The new leader was proposed by senior leader BS Yediyurappa and supported by Govind Karjol, R Ashok, KS Eshwarappa, B Sriramulu, ST Somashekar, Poornima Srinivas, and newly elected legislature party leader and new chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. The announcement was made by BJP’s central observer and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan after the meeting.
Soon after the announcement, the three-time MLA from Shiggaon constituency in Haveri district sought the blessings of Yediyurappa, whom he also called his “political guru” and was welcomed by other party leaders. The legislature party meeting to elect the new leader took place at a city hotel in the presence of Union ministers Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy, who were appointed as central observers by the BJP’s parliamentary board.
BJP’s national general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel and national general secretary CT Ravi and others participated in this. Soon after being elected as the leader of the BJP Legislature Party, Bommai went to the Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the government with caretaker Chief Minister Yediyurappa.
Thanking PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda and members of the parliamentary board, Bommai said the legislature party has unanimously elected him as its leader and Yediyurappa blessed him by proposing his name. Is. “The faith and aspirations people have in the BJP, as well as the hope of a people-friendly administration and taking Karnataka forward in all spheres – which our leaders PM Modi, Shah and Yediyurappa have, I will strive for it,” he said. He thanked all the party leaders and MLAs for their support.
Expressing confidence that he will take everyone in the party and the government together, Bommai said that his priority is to solve the problems faced by the common man and the poor due to COVID and floods, and he will work day and night for it. do. Responding to a question, he said, “I will also try to improve the financial position of the state and said that no condition has been imposed (by the leadership).” Known for his “clean and non-controversial” image, Bommai is considered one of Yediyurappa’s close confidantes.
Although Yediyurappa had said that he would not name his successor, it is clear that he had a major role in the selection of Bommai. The BJP is said to be contemplating to bring about a generational change.
But by choosing a leader from the Lingayat community, the party’s major vote base, to which Yediyurappa also belongs, the party has chosen to play it safe, ahead of the assembly elections in 2023. In recent days, leaders and seers from the politically influential community, which accounts for 16-17 per cent of the population, had rallied strongly to demand that Yediyurappa be retained as the CM, while some said was that if the strongman of Lingayat is removed, then they should be replaced by some other leader of the community.
A senior BJP functionary said, “Bommai is non-controversial, intelligent, politically shrewd and compatible with Yeddyurappa.” Another party leader said, Yediyurappa is still active in state politics, may or may not come as an advantage to Bommai. Will tell us how the equations will work…
Remember what happened to DV Sadananda Gowda, who was also installed as CM by Yeddyurappa.” Bommai, who started his political career with the Janata Dal, was seen as Yeddyurappa’s shadow in the recently dissolved BJP government. Yeddyurappa, who was the outgoing chief minister, resigned on Monday to mark the completion of two years of his government.
The governor had accepted Yediyurappa’s resignation, and dissolved the council of ministers headed by him with immediate effect, but asked him to continue serving as chief minister until alternative arrangements were made.
(with inputs from PTI)
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