Basavaraj Bommai elected new Karnataka CM; to take oath tomorrow
At the legislature meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bengaluru, Basavaraj Bommai was elected the next Karnataka Chief Minister. Bommai, 61, will take oath as the CM on Wednesday. Bommai will succeed BS Yediyurappa, who announced his resignation from the post on Monday. Reportedly, Yediyurappa had resigned earlier this month and kept up the suspense until the last minute.
Bommai was Home Minister in Yediyurappa's government
The Karnataka BJP held its legislature party meeting on Tuesday to elect Yediyurappa's replacement. It was highly speculated that Bommai, K Sudhakar, or R Ashoka could be named CM. Bommai has now been elected the next CM. Reportedly, he will take oath around 3:30 pm on Wednesday. Reports said Karnataka will likely have three Deputy CMs: B Sriramulu, Govind Karjol, and R Ashok.
Bommai thanked Yeddiyurappa for proposing his name
After the announcement, Bommai said, "Yediyurappa proposed my name in the meeting and blessed me. I also thank all the MLAs of the party." Yeddiyurappa had also expressed confidence in Bommai's ability to lead Karnataka down the path of development.
Who is Basavaraj Bommai?
Bommai was the Home Minister in Yediyurappa's government. He was among the CM's close confidantes. Like Yediyurappa, he also belongs to the politically significant Lingayat community. Bommai—the son of former Karnataka CM SR Bommai—is an engineer by profession and had started his career with the Tata Group. Since joining the BJP in 2008, he has been a two-time MLC and three-time MLA from Shiggaon.
Yediyurappa resigned on July 10: Report
To recall, Yediyurappa announced his resignation on Monday ending weeks of speculation. Sources told NDTV that he had resigned on July 10 and a trusted senior leader brought his resignation letter to Delhi. The letter was handed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Finding Yediyurappa's replacement had proven tricky as the Lingayats strongly opposed his exit. Yediyurappa has maintained that he was not forcibly removed.
Rumors on Yediyurappa's exit were circulating for days
In fact, rumors had been rife about Yediyurappa's resignation since he flew to Delhi earlier this month to hold meetings with the BJP leadership. After the meetings, he said he hadn't been asked to resign. However, he later said he was ready to resign whenever. On Sunday, he said that he had heard "nothing till now" from the BJP regarding a change of guard.
Yediyurappa became CM as BJP unseated JDS-Congress government
Yediyurappa rose to power in 2019 as the first and only CM from the BJP in the south. He became the CM after a coup unseated the former Janata Dal Secular-Congress government led by HD Kumaraswamy. The Kumaraswamy government fell as 18 MLAs resigned and joined the BJP. Many of them found positions in Yediyurappa's Cabinet. However, he failed to keep all factions happy.
