Lingayat MLA Basavaraj Bommai is next chief minister of Karnataka

The Karnataka BJP legislature party on Tuesday elected Basavaraj Bommai as its new leader and he will succeed outgoing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. According to party sources, Bommai, a Lingayat leader from North Karnataka, had the backing of the outgoing chief minister Yeddyurappa to succeed him.

Basavaraj Bommai is the son of former chief minister, the late S R Bommai. The 61-year-old leader was Minister for Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislature in Yediyurappa's council of ministers which was dissolved on Monday.

“The new leader proposal was made by senior leader B S Yediyurappa and was supported by Govind Karjol, R Ashok, K S Eshwarappa, B Sriramulu, S T Somashekar, Poornima Srinivas, and the newly elected legislature party leader and new Chief Minister will be Basavaraj Bommai,” BJP’s central observers and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said after the meeting.

Soon after the announcement, Bommai sought the blessings of Yediyurappa, and he was greeted by other party leaders.

The legislature party meeting to elect the new leader took place at a city hotel in the presence of Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy who were appointed as central observers by BJP's parliamentary board.

It was attended by BJP national general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, national general secretary C T Ravi, among others.

Known for his “clean and non-controversial” image, Bommai is considered among the close confidants of Yediyurappa. Ending months of speculation over his exit, Yediyurappa on Monday stepped down as the Chief Minister, coinciding with his government completing two years in office.

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot accepted the 78-year-old BJP veteran's resignation, and dissolved the Council of Ministers headed by him, with immediate effect. The notification from the Raj Bhavan said Yediyurappa shall continue to function as Chief Minister till alternative arrangements are made.

Oath taking ceremony at 11 am today

Bommai on Tuesday said Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has invited him to form the government and he will take oath as Chief Minister at 11 am on July 28. 

"I have informed the Governor about my election as the leader of the legislature party. He has invited me to form the government. We have discussed and decided that I will take oath tomorrow at 11 am," Bommai said.

According to the Governor's office, the oath taking ceremony will be at the Glass House in the Raj Bhavan. The 61-year-old leader also said that he alone will take the oath of office on Wednesday. Soon after his election as the leader of the BJP legislature party, Bommai, along with caretaker Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, drove to the Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the government.

Father-son duo

When Bommai takes oath as Karnataka chief minister, he will be the latest in the father-son duos to occupy the CM's post.

Another father-son duo, also from Karnataka, occupied the state CM's post: H D Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy. Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin's father M Karunanidhi was also the chief minister of the southern state.