Who is Basavaraj Bommai and why is he in news? Deets inside!

Ending the heightened Suspense, the Karnataka BJP legislature party on Tuesday (July 27) elected Basavaraj Bommai as its new leader and he will succeed the outgoing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

 

"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.

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Bommai, a Lingayat leader from North Karnataka is a close confidant of Yediyurappa and according to party sources, there is a clear stamp of the veteran BJP leader in this succession plan.

 

Son of former Chief Minister, late SR Bommai, he was Minister for Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislature in Yediyurappa's council of ministers which was dissolved on Monday.

 

It is the second instance of a father-son duo becoming Chief Minister of Karnataka, after H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy.

"The new leader proposal was made by senior leader B S Yediyurappa and was supported by Govind Karjol, R Ashoka, 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 observer and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced after the meeting.

 

Soon after the announcement, the three-time MLA from Shiggaon constituency in Haveri district, sought the blessings of Yediyurappa, whom he also called his "political guru" 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 Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy who were appointed as central observers by BJP's parliamentary board.

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Known for his "clean and non-controversial" image, Bommai is considered among the close confidants of Yediyurappa.

 

Though Yediyurappa had said he would not name his successor, it is clear that he had a major say in the selection of Bommai.

 

The BJP was said to be looking at bringing in a generational shift. But by picking a leader from the Lingayat community, the party's key vote base to which Yediyurappa also belongs, the party has chosen to play it safe, ahead of the assembly polls in 2023.

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Basavaraj Bommai completed his graduation in engineering from BV Bhoomreddy Engineering College in Hubbali. He worked as an industrial entrepreneur and later went on to work with Tata Motors for three years. 

 

Bommai started his political career by joining the Youth wing of Janata Dal. He was appointed as the chief secretary to then chief minister JH Patel in 1996. 

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After joining the BJP in February 2008, when Yediyurappa became the Chief Minister, he was elected to the Assembly from the Shiggaon constituency in the Haveri district.

 

Widely acclaimed for his knowledge of irrigation matters in the state and contributions to innumerable irrigation schemes, he is also credited with implementing India`s first 100 per cent piped irrigation project at Shiggaon in Haveri.

 

Bommai will be sworn in as the 30th Chief Minister at the Raj Bhavan at 3.20 pm on Wednesday (July 28).

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Accompanied by outgoing Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to the Raj Bhavan, he is expected to take oath at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday (July 28).

 

Meanwhile, news of Bommai set to becoming the next Chief Minister triggered celebrations in Shiggaon town in the district headquarters of Haveri.

 

Shiggaon is from where Bommai got elected to the Karnataka assembly.

 

Bommai's supporters hit the roads, burst crackers, and raised slogans in favour of their leader.