The Karnataka BJP legislature party which met on July 27, Tuesday evening to elect their new legislature party leader has chosen Basavaraj Bommai as the new Chief Minister. 61-year-old Bommai, the MLA from Shiggaon, is the home minister of the state and had served as Minister of Water Resources in the Yediyurappa government in 2008.
Like Yediyurappa (Banajiga sub-sect), Bommai (Sadar sub-sect), son of former Chief Minister SR Bommai also hails from the Lingayat community. The community comprises about 17% of the state’s population and Bommai with his political experience was one of the favorites who were considered for being the new guard. It was expected that the BJP will opt for a member from the community, considering it is the party’s prime vote bank and they cannot be seen as isolating the community by removing Yediyurappa as the Chief Minister.
Bommai was elected as an MLA from Dharwad constituency in a Janata Dal ticket following his father’s footsteps in 1998 and 2004. In 2008, he decided to join the BJP. He contested the 2008 assembly elections as a BJP candidate in Shiggaon constituency in Haveri district and won. He was subsequently given the Ministry of Water Resources.
According to political observers in the state, Bommai was one of Yediyurappa’s first choices as his successor. It was Yediyurappa who proposed Bommai's name as the new chief minister of the statement. But unlike the other frontrunners, Bommai is not a RSS man and is indeed a surprise choice.
Along with the party legislators, union ministers Dharamendra Pradhan and Kishan Reddy were also present in the meeting as part of the central delegation. The legislators had met in Bengaluru’s Capitol Hotel on Tuesday evening. This development marks the beginning of a new era of politics in Karnataka
Yediyurappa resigned from his post of Chief Minister of Karnataka on Monday, exactly two years after he took charge. In an emotional farewell address, Yediyurappa termed his tenure as Chief Minister as an 'agni pareeksha'. His resignation was accepted by the Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Monday afternoon. The resignation came after a drawn-out internal conflict within the BJP in which a few party leaders had made dissenting statements against Yediyurappa, particularly asking for his removal. The decision was made by the BJP high command to replace Yediyurappa earlier this month. Yediyurappa visited New Delhi this month along with his son BY Vijayendra to speak with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following which he resigned to his fate.
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