Karnataka: What got Basavaraj Bommai extra points in race

BENGALURU: Multiple factors, including experience in administration at a younger age and clean image, worked in favour of Basavaraj Bommai who emerged as the consensus candidate for Karnataka CM’s post.
The BJP high command wanted to replace veteran Yediyurappa with a relatively younger face and someone with a clean image, who could lead the party in the next assembly elections. Different camps, including dissidents up against the outgoing CM, projected many as potential contenders.
As the party wanted a Lingayat to succeed Yediyurappa, three leaders from the politically dominant Panchamasali sub-sect — Aravind Bellad, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and Murugesh Nirani — were the front-runners. While all three were identified as dissidents, the neutral stand that Bommai had taken all along apparently made him a natural choice, though he remained closely associated with Yediyurappa. Party sources said he was, in fact, hand-picked by the exiting CM.
Bommai’s ability to reach out to legislators cutting across camps within the BJP is said to have made him eligible for the CM’s post at a time when the party is facing the challenge of preparing for elections amid constant internal bickering.
“I am thankful to the legislators and the party leaders as they elected me unanimously. I will take all into confidence and take them together,” said Bommai on Tuesday. In a positive gesture, dissidents Bellad and Yatnal welcomed Bommai’s selection and the party leaders hoped that the new chief minister would be able to assuage the disgruntled members.
Further, while Bommai’s experience as a two-time MLC and three-time MLA came handy, his performance on the floor of the house as law and parliamentary affairs minister after he took over from JC Madhuswamy was appreciated by party colleagues and top brass alike. An engineering graduate, Bommai has impressed the party leadership, thanks to his vast knowledge about a range of subjects.
Bommai represents the state in the GST Council. Once an irrigation minister, he is known to strongly represent Karnataka in river water disputes with neighbouring states. Recently, he was also appreciated for converting his residence in Shiggaon, his assembly constituency in Haveri, into a 50-bed Covid Care Centre.
With this rise, Bommai has earned a distinction of being the first BJP CM who is not originally from the party. Starting his political career as a Janata parivar member, he moved from Janata Dal (United) to BJP in 2008. Today he takes over as the CM around 33 years after his father SR Bommai was unseated as the CM in 1989, thanks to mass defection from Janata Dal.