Karnataka crisis: Sadananda Gowda resigns, Jagadish Shettar is new CM

Karnataka crisis: Sadananda Gowda resigns, Jagadish Shettar is new CM
CNN-IBN

New Delhi: It is official. BJP leader DV Sadananda Gowda has resigned from the post of Karnataka Chief Minister and BS Yeddyurappa loyalist and Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar will replace him. BJP President Nitin Gadkari made the announcement after a party meeting on Sunday in the capital.

Making the announcement, Gadkari said, "Sadananda Gowda offered to resign for the larger good of the party. The party has accepted his resignation. The party has decided to make Jagadish Shettar the new Karnataka Chief Minister."

He added, "Sadananda Gowda has done a good job as Chief Minister for 11 months. There is no complaint against his work. Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh will be going to Bangalore tomorrow. There would be a state legislatures meet."

The announcement may have ended a long fought battle between Gowda and party strongman BS Yeddyurappa, whom he had replaced nearly an year ago.

Within months of Gowda taking over, ties between him and his predecessor had strained and Yeddyurappa, on numerous occasions, threatened to leave the party if Gowda was not replaced.

Yeddyurappa is believed to have proposed his loyalist and Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar's name for the post. It is likely the BJP high command made its decision eyeing the powerful Lingayat votes in the state.

Meanwhile, Gowda has said that he would be loyal to the party "in the future also" and the new Chief Minister will be extended "all cooperation from me".

"My central leaders have taken a decision for change of leadership in Karnataka for political reasons... I will be loyal to the party in future also. The incoming CM will be given all cooperation from me," he said.

Sources say the BJP will likely send Sadanand Gowda to the Rajya Sabha.

They also say that KS Eshwarappa could be made the deputy chief minister of the state.

Gowda resigns, Shettar to be new Karnataka CM

Gowda resigns, Shettar to be new Karnataka CM 

PTI, New Delhi, July 08, 2012 

Karnataka rural development minister Jagadish Shettar, who is an aspirant for the post of chief minister of the state

Ending the political impasse in Karnataka, BJP on Sunday announced that chief minister Sadanand Gowda has submitted his resignation to the party and will be replaced by BS 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 Bengalore 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.

Who is Jagadish Shettar?

Who is Jagadish Shettar? 

IBNLive, Jul 07, 2012 at 02:33pm IST 

Jagadish Shivappa Shettar -Chief Minister of Karnataka in waiting

New Delhi: Jagadish Shivappa Shettar was born on December 17, 1955, in Kerur village of Bagalkot district, Karnataka to SS Shettar and Basavanemma. His father, SS Shettar, was a senior activist of the Jana Sangh and was elected five times to the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation and became the first Jana Sangh mayor of Hubli-Dharwad. Jagdish Shettar's uncle Sadashiv Shettar was the first Jana Sangh leader in the South to get elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Hubli City in 1967. 

Shettar's plunge into politics began with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He also became an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Shettar has BCom and LLB degrees and was a practising lawyer for 20 years at the Hubli Bar. He married Shilpa. The couple has two sons - Prashant and Sankalp. In 1990, he became the president of the Hubli rural Unit of the BJP. Then in 1994, he became the Dharwad district unit chief of the party. The same year, he was elected to the Assembly for the first time. Since then, he has been re-elected from the Hubli rural constituency for four successive terms. In 1996, Shettar became the BJP state secretary. 

In 1999, when he got elected for his second legislative term, he was chosen as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly while SM Krishna was the chief minister of Karnataka. In 2005, he was appointed as the BJP's state unit president. He went on to become the revenue minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government headed by HD Devegowda's son HD Kumaraswamy in 2006. In 2008, following the BJP's victory in the Assembly polls, Shettar became the Speaker. But he resigned just a year later and was inducted into the cabinet of BS Yeddyurappa as minister for rural development and Panchayat Raj. 

In 2011, following the resignation of Yeddyurappa, Shettar emerged as a major contender for the post of the chief minister. However, the BJP Legislature Party elected DV Sadananda Gowda instead. But in 2012, things changed and Shettar was chosen by the BJP central leadership to replace Gowda.

Shettar set to be new Karnataka CM

Shettar set to be new Karnataka CM

PTI & IBNLive | 09:07 PM,2012 

Chief Minister of Karnataka in Waiting

New Delhi: Jagadish Shettar is set to be the new Chief Minister of Karnataka with the BJP today succumbing to B S Yeddyurappa's demands for replacing Sadananda Gowda, marking the second change of leadership in the state in 11 months. Gowda is expected to step down tomorrow paving the way for Shettar, a 56-year-old Lingayat leader and Rural Development Minister, to take over as the Chief Minister, sources said. 

As per the decisions reached at a series of meetings today, K S Eshwarappa and R Ashok may be made Deputy Chief Ministers. Gowda may be made party unit chief in Karnataka. The decision to replace Gowda with Shettar, Yeddyurappa's close associate, was taken at BJP's Core Group and Parliamentary Board meetings today. 59-year-old Gowda, expressed readiness to quit, held marathon discussions with the BJP leadership, including L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arunj Jaitley. 

He will meet party President Nitin Gadkari tomorrow after which the decision will be announced. Jaitley said the entire political situation in the state was discussed during over two-and-a-half hour meeting. "After the Chief Minister meets the party President, whatever the party's Core Group and the Parliamentary Board has discussed and decided, after consultations with the Chief Minister, will be announced tomorrow morning," Jaitley said. 

Shettar will be the third Chief Minister in four years in Karnataka, the only southern state having BJP government, and his nomination will mark the second change in 11 months. Gowda, who replaced Yeddyurrappa after the latter was removed in the wake of corruption charges, earlier said he was ready to quit whenever asked by the party high command. "I have said whatever decision the central leadership takes, I am prepared to accept. That means if they ask me to quit the post, I am prepared. If they ask me to continue, I will continue," he told reporters after reaching here from Bangalore in the afternoon. (MORE)

Two airlines evince interest in Bangalore-Hubli route

Two airlines evince interest in Bangalore-Hubli route
Hubli, July 6, 2012, DHNS

Spicejet Airways and Pegasus Airlines, which is making a foray into the civil aviation sector, have evinced interest in introducing flights between Bangalore and Hubli. 


The companies, which are waiting for Airports Authority of India’s permission, are keen on the route as Kingfisher Airlines suspended its operations a fortnight ago. K M Basavaraju, Director, Hubli Airport Authority, said the Spicejet representatives had conducted a survey with regard to operation of flights on the route. 


The letter by Spicejet had been sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Spicejet has purchased three new aircraft and planned to operate flights between the two cities starting August. Basavaraju said Pegasus too had written a letter seeking to begin its maiden flight from Hubli. 


N P Javali, Chairman of the Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Hubli), said the suspension of operations by Kingfisher had adversely effected industrialists and businessmen from North Karnataka as they do not have air connectivity to Bangalore.