From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jul 27: As part of the strategy to keep the politically powerful Lingayat-Veerashaiva community, which is seen as the major support base of the BJP under outgoing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s leadership, the ruling BJP on Tuesday reposed their faith in 61-year-old Basavaraj Bommai as the Karnataka’s next Chief Minister.

Bommai is expected to be formally sworn in as Karnataka’s 30th Chief Minister on Wednesday afternoon at Raj Bhavan.

The election of Yediyurappa’s successor was very smooth and the Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Kishan Reddy, who arrived from Delhi this evening as BJP’s Central Observers, lost no time in convening the State BJP Legislature Party meeting, which turned out to be a smooth affair with Yediyurappa himself proposing his trusted lieutenant’s name and seconded by Govind M Karjol, it was unanimously accepted.

The name was announced by Central Observer Dharmendra Pradhan at a crowded press conference in Bengaluru.

The 78-year-old veteran Yediyurappa had resigned on Monday, which marked the second anniversary of his Chief Ministership. He, however, turned emotional and broke down several times while announcing his decision to quit at a function in Vidhana Soudha.

Initiating the formal process to replace Yediyurappa, who resigned as Chief Minister, the BJP central leadership has directed the state unit to convene a meeting of the legislature party in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

A close associate of Yediyurappa, the choice of Bommai, who served as the Home Minister and subsequently entrusted with the Law and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio is also seen as a way of placating the Lingayat strongman who had to quit at the end of the two-year term.

A Mechanical Engineer by profession Bommai, son of former Chief Minister Somappa Rayappa Bommai, is non-controversial man with no baggage of corruption.

Interestingly, he is not from the RSS stables as he was earlier associated with JD (U) and was very close to Ramakrishna Hegde. He is a moderate face not known to take hard Hindutva hardline stances. He joined BJP in 2008 and has been a staunch supporter of Yediyurappa, even though he did not join the veteran leader in 2013 when he broke out to form his own Karnataka Janata Party that was seen as mainly responsible for the defeat of BJP in the assembly polls.