BJP decides to name Jagadish Shettar as new CM of Karnataka

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday decided to replace chief minister Sadananda Gowda with Jagadish Shettar to quell a rebellion by a faction led by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa. Shettar is a confidante of Yeddyurappa.

Gowda met senior party leaders, including LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley in Delhi after a meeting of the party core group at BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s residence in Delhi. Before leaving Bangalore, he told reporters that he will abide the party decision.

Gowda, who has been chief minister for less than a year, said a decision on the leadership issue should be taken soon as political flux was affecting governance in the state. The party was considering appointing a deputy chief minister from the Vokkaliga community to which Gowda belongs, sources said.

The BJP Parliamentary board was expected to meet on Sunday to ratify the leadership change while the Karnataka party legislators were likely to meet on Monday.

While the BJP was deciding on replacing Gowda under pressure from Yeddyurappa and his supporters, the former chief minister was being quizzed by the CBI in an illegal mining case. It was in the light of indictment by the Lokayukta in the case that the party asked him to step down last August.

Yeddyurappa reluctantly resigned and handpicked Gowda to replace him, but soon fell out with his successor. After conceding that the party would not reinstate him as chief minister till he came out clear, Yeddyurappa stepped up pressure on the party to appoint Shettar, a Lingayat like him and a rival-turned-loyalist, as chief minister. With the assembly poll due in 2013, the central leadership cannot afford political turmoil in the state.

With the state assembly session beginning on July 16, a leadership change was likely to be made before that. This would also ensure smooth sailing during the presidential poll on July 19. The Congress criticised the change of guard, saying there is "governance paralysis" in the state which can be resolved only through fresh polls.

"A new chief minister is no solution for Karnataka. The only solution for the state is to dissolve the assembly and go for fresh elections, as there is a continuous governance paralysis in the BJP-ruled state," said AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad.