Educated, secular, Karnataka CM-designate Bommai has friends in all parties
BENGALURU/HUBBALLI: Water warrior’s heart beats for farmers, started his two-decade political career by taking part in protests. Shares excellent relations with JDS, Congress leaders, has worked with Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah
The man anointed to fill former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s rather outsized shoes, Karnataka’s new Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is a man with friends across the political spectrum. Well read and well educated about the issues of Karnataka, he cannot be influenced in his decision making -- that’s how those close to Bommai sum him up.
Bommai studied engineering in BVB College in Hubballi, and worked with the Tata Group, besides setting up his own entrepreneurial venture. Despite being the son of a chief minister, he maintained a low profile and continued his pursuit of understanding the issues of farmers. Since his college days, Bommai actively took part in agitations.
Like his father SR Bommai, he started off on his political graph by getting water for farmers of Dharwad region. He joined the Janata Dal as political secretary to Chief Minister J H Patel, and due to his start in the Janata Parivar, he shares excellent relations with leaders of the JDS and Congress. He has worked with former PM H D Deve Gowda and former CM Siddaramaiah.
He was made MLC in 1998, and continued for a second term, and when the Janata Parivar split, he moved to the Janata Dal (United). In 2008 when Bommai left the JDU, he had two choices -- join BJP or contest on a Congress ticket. He wished to contest from Dharwad Rural and was in talks with Congress leaders in New Delhi. He had also met Oscar Fernandes, but did not get the ticket after Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge opposed it.
It was then that BS Yediyurappa offered him a BJP ticket from Shiggaon, and there was no looking back. He won the seat with good margins in each election. Though Bommai belongs to a subsect called Sadar Lingayats, who account for a very small number in Shiggaon, he managed to win repeatedly from there.
Bommai was allotted the irrigation ministry and ensured several projects such as Mahadayi and Krishna were speeded up. He was also responsible for initiating talks with Goa to get a rightful share of water from the Mahadayi basin.
In his two-decade political career, Bommai has been an amicable but firm persona. He is on good terms with many national leaders as well. When he used to interact with late Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa on the Cauvery issue, the latter would make an exception and speak with Bommai in Kannada, recall his close associates.
His assent to prominence started in 2019 when he was given the Home portfolio and was rewarded with two more portfolios -- Law and Parliamentary Affairs. While some ministers are armed with a battery of secretaries to assist them, Bommai makes his own notes and goes through files personally. Considered a no-nonsense politician, he does not hesitate to call a spade a spade.
PREDICTION COMES TRUE
Speaking at a Mahadayi agitation in 2003, Bommai had mentioned that he has been told by an astrologer that he would become Chief Minister of the state one day, his friends recall.
FACT file
Name: Basavaraj Bommai
Born: 28-01-1960 in Hubballi
Father: Former chief minister S R Bommai
Mother: Gangamma S Bommai
Spouse: Channamma
Children: Bharat, Aditi
Education: Rotary English
Medium School, Hubballi, PC
Jabin Science College, Hubballi.
Engineering from BVB College (now KLE Technological University), Hubballi
Got involved in social and political activities from college days
Successfully organised Youth Janata Dal meet in 1993
Started business in Hubballi and Bengaluru
WATER RIGHTS
Ashok Chandaragi, writer and senior Kannada activist from Belagavi, said Bommai was determined to get water to Malaprabha from Mahadayi.
“Being a strong BJP leader, Bommai carries a secular image which is his plus point. Another important decision by Bommai was not leaving the BJP when Yediyurappa left and formed the Karnataka Janata Paksha in 2012. Bommai has experience of handling law ministry, home ministry and irrigation, and has already proved a good minister,” he said.