Another one bites the dust
Barring a last minute hitch, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda is set to make way for Jagadish Shettar as the 22nd chief minister of Karnataka on Sunday, with BJP leaders in New Delhi taking a decision to bring about the second change in leadership in 11 months. The decision to replace Mr Gowda with the Lingayat leader from Hubli was approved by the Core Committee which met on Saturday minus national party president Nitin Gadkari, and would be ratified by the Parliamentary Board on Monday.
The announcement was delayed as the parliamentary board of the party will meet on Sunday. Senior leader Arun Jaitley said a decision “will be taken tomorrow, after Mr Gowda meets BJP president Nitin Gadkari”. Mr Gadkari was to arrive in Delhi late Saturday night. Mr Shettar is likely to take oath at 11.15 am on July 11 along with a 30-member cabinet at one go instead of inducting ministers in phases as part of the ruling party’s earlier strategy to gear up for next year’s assembly elections.
Interestingly, the ruling party is likely to set a precedent by carving out the post of deputy chief minister to accommodate either state unit president K.S. Eshwarappa or home minister R. Ashok, or both in order to retain its albeit marginal hold on voters belonging to other communities. The party would also take a decision to offer a new post to the outgoing Chief Minister Mr Gowda who may not get the state party chief’s job as his tenure the first time was not considered great, sources said.
30 days was all he wanted, but...
Outgoing Chief Minister Mr Sadananda Gowda, reportedly asked BJP leaders Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Arun Jaitley and Mrs Sushma Swaraj that he should be given an opportunity to continue in office till he completes his first year in office on August 4.
Sources in the party said though Mr Sadananda Gowda was sporting his trade-mark smile during his current trip to New Delhi, and highlighted the fact that he provided corruption-free administration during the last 11 months, he would have preferred to have completed a year in office. Mr Gowda will meet party president Nitin Gadkari on Sunday in a last-minute effort to convince the latter that he should be allowed to complete a year in office.
“I am not disappointed about losing power. But I hope that with my resignation, all dissident activities will come to an end ahead of next year’s elections.” In another side swipe at BSY, Mr Gowda lamented that owing to political instability, implementation of drought relief work was patchy. “Due to severe drought, the people are suffering. If some die due to drought, the people will reject BJP,” Mr Gowda warned.
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