BJP on Sunday announced that
Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda has submitted his resignation to the party
and will be replaced by B S Yeddyurappa's loyalist Jagadish Shettar.
The
BJP high command bowed to Lingayat leader Yeddyurappa in view of the
Assembly elections due early next year and agreed to replace 59-year-old
Gowda, a Vokkaliga leader, with Rural Development Minister Shettar, 56,
who is a Lingayat.
"In
view of the current political situation in Karnataka, Sadanand Gowda
has handed over his resignation to me. In his tenure, he did work and
the performance of our government was very good."
"There
were no complaints against him on grounds of corruption but keeping the
party's interest in mind, as a good party worker, he has resigned in
the interest of the organisation," BJP President Nitin Gadkari told
reporters in New Delhi.
He also announced that he has accepted Gowda's resignation on behalf of the party.
"Our party has decided to hand over the leadership to Jagadish Shettar," Gadkari said.
Senior
BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley will go to Bengaluru on
Monday to oversee the formal election of Shettar as Chief Minister of
Karnataka by the party MLAs.
Asked
if Deputy Chief Ministers would also be appointed by the party as was
reported earlier, Gadkari said no such decision has been taken on this
issue.
With
the Assembly elections just 10 months away, the BJP central leadership
realised that to put up a "good show", it will have to fight under the
leadership of Yeddyurappa, whom many see as the undisputed leader of the
Lingayat community which has always voted for the party, BJP sources
said.
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