Basavaraj Bommai To Be Karnataka CM Following BS Yediyurappa’s Exit

Basavaraj Bommai has been selected as the next chief minister of Karnataka.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Basavaraj Bommai was selected as the next chief minister of Karnataka, a day after BS Yediyurappa announced his resignation from the post.

Bommai was serving as the state's Minister of Home Affairs under the Yediyurappa government.

The 61-year-old will take oath at 11 am on Wednesday.

"It is a big responsibility in the given situation. I will strive to work for the welfare of the poor. It will be pro-people and pro-poor people governance."

Karnataka CM-elect Basavaraj Bommai, as quoted by ANI

Reacting to his elevation, Yediyurappa tweeting saying, "I am confident you will lead Karnataka in the path of development and fulfill the aspirations of people of the state."

The MLA from Shiggaon constituency is the son of SR Bommai, who had served as Karnataka CM in 1988-99. He had earlier been part of Janata Dal (United), before joining the BJP in 2008.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Yediyurappa Resigns on Second Anniversary of His Govt

Bommai was elected as the Karnataka BJP legislature party leader at a meeting of MLAs held on Tuesday, which was also attended by Union ministers and party central observers Dharmendra Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy. Yediyurappa was also part of the meeting.

State party leader K Sudhakar said the decision to elect Bommai was a unanimous one. "He commands respect, not just from the party, even from outside the party," he was quoted as saying.

The central BJP leadership had sprung into action after Yediyurappa's dramatic resignation on Monday on the occasion of his government completing two years of coming to power in the state.

Speaking to the media after tendering his resignation to Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot on Monday, Yediyurappa said that he was not pressured to step down and will help the party return to power in the 2023 Assembly elections.

Several other names were doing the rounds as frontrunners for CM's post before Bommai was selected, including BJP’s Hubli-Dharwad MLA Arvind Bellad, the state’s Mines and Geology Minister Murugesh Nirani, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, and BJP’s National General Secretaries CT Ravi and BL Santhosh.