Basavaraj Bommai to become next CM of Karnataka; to take oath at 11 am on Wednesday

Newly appointed leader Bommai 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.
BJP leader BS Yediyurappa (second left) with next Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai (C) posing for the cameras after BJP legislature party meeting in Bengaluru. (Photo | EPS/Vinod kumar T)
BJP leader BS Yediyurappa (second left) with next Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai (C) posing for the cameras after BJP legislature party meeting in Bengaluru. (Photo | EPS/Vinod kumar T)

BENGALURU: A day after BS Yediyurappa resigned, senior minister in his cabinet Basavaraj Bommai is set to take over as Karnataka Chief Minister.

In the Bharatiya Janata Party's legislature party meeting held at a private hotel in Bengaluru, Bommai was unanimously chosen as the leader.

Newly appointed leader Bommai 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. He also said that he alone will take the oath of office on Wednesday.

Bommai, a legislator from Shigaon, emerged as a consensus candidate given his proximity to BS Yediyurappa, the central leadership of the BJP as well as the Sangh parivar.

The 61-year-old is the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister SR Bommai and has a background in the Janata Party.

The New Indian Express on July 23 had reported that Bommai was emerging as a consensus candidate. Bommai has left behind Murugesh Nirani and Arvind Bellad among others in the race to the CM post.

BL Santhosh, the party’s National General Secretary (Organisation), was also seen as a frontrunner as he could keep dissidence at bay, but his rivalry with Yediyurappa as well as the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh were roadblocks.

Earlier, insisting that nobody pressurised him to resign, Yediyurappa had on Monday said he had stepped down so that somebody else could take over as Chief Minister after the successful completion of two years of the BJP-led state government.

Ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls, Yediyurappa had assured that he shall work to bring the party back to power in the upcoming polls.

(With inputs from PTI)

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