TV9 Breaking: Sadanand Gowda Resigns, Shettar To Be New Karnataka CM: Nitin Gadkari {Press Meet}.......,
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari confirmed on Sunday that Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda has resigned.
Addressing a prèss conference here, Gadkari said, “Gowda today tendered his resignation and the party has accepted it”. “He resigned for the party's benefit,” added Gadkari.
“Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar will be the next Karnataka Chief Minister,” Gadkari told reporters here.
The top brass of BJP today met at Nitin Gadkari’s residence to discuss the issue of replacing Sadananda Gowda with Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar. BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Sadananda Gowda were present in the meet.
“He has given a corruption-free government but considering the present political situation and for the benefit of the party, Gowda is being replaced with Shettar,” the BJP president said when asked about the need for leadership change in the state.
“No decision has been taken on appointing any new Deputy Chief Minister. Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh will visit Bangalore tomorrow and hold discussions with the party MLAs regarding the leadership change.”
“Both Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar will meet Governor HR Bharadwaj tomorrow,” Gadkari said.
Gowda met party stalwart LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley yesterday evening in the national capital.
Shettar will be the third chief minister in four years in Karnataka, the only southern state having a BJP government. His nomination will mark the second change in 11 months.
Gowda, who had asked the BJP central leadership not to take any decision in haste, contending that he had put in his best as the CM, to give a corruption-free government, changed his line soon after arriving in Delhi and said he would go by the party high command's decision.
"As I have said earlier, I would abide by whatever decision the party high command would take on the leadership issue. If I am asked to quit, I will resign and if I am asked to continue, I will stay," he told reporters on Saturday.
The decision is being viewed as a victory for former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa who has given sleepless nights to the BJP leadership ever since he was forced to resign by the central leadership in 2011 following a Lokayukta report, which indicted him on illegal mining and bribery charges.
It seems the saffron party, which for the first time came to power in a southern state in 2007, doesn’t want to upset Yeddyurappa by continuing with Gowda as the chief minister.
The Vokaliga community to which Gowda belongs hasn’t been much faithful to the BJP, whereas politically influential Lingayat community, which makes up 17 percent of the state's 65 million population, is generally believed to be strong supporter of the BJP. This factor also seems to be playing in the minds of the party central leadership.
Earlier this week, BJP sources told a news agency in Bangalore that most of the central leaders were veering towards replacing Gowda with Shettar, mainly because Assembly Elections are due May next and the bickering cannot be allowed to persist.
They said though Gowda and his supporters have been resisting his removal, the central leaders believe that the Gowda camp would not create problems like the Yeddyurappa faction and would abide by the decision.
Interestingly, Gowda was a Lok Sabha member when he was hand-picked by Yeddyurappa to succeed him last July when the BJP's first chief minister in South India was forced to quit.
The party is also likely to appoint a Deputy Chief Minister to placate other senior party leaders representing different communities of Karnataka.
The names of minister R Ashok and Karnataka BJP chief KS Eshwarappa are doing the rounds for the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
