Sadananda Gowda - the popular choice for Karnataka CM?

Bangalore, Jul 31: With the political turmoil in Karnataka heating up, former BJP President Sadananda Gowda, aged 58 is emerging as the strong contender for the Chief Minister's post. With Gowda being the choice of BS Yeddyurappa as well, he is believed to be strongly rooting for Gowda to be placed in the top post. This fact was backed by BJP senior member Dhananjay Kumar as well.

With Yeddyurappa's official resignation slated to be submitted to Karnataka Governor HR Bharadwaj at 3:30pm, the decision on who his successor is also going to be revealed at this time.

The other names that were doing the rounds include ministers V S Acharya, Jagadish Shettar (56) and Shobha Karandlaje (45) and party general secretary H N Ananthkumar. Yeddyurappa who had earlier evaded meeting with senior BJP leaders who had arrived in the state met with them to express his choice of CM. The BJP had also stated that Yeddyurappa (68) would be given an upper hand in choosing his successor.

Gowda who is also a Lok Sabha member from Udupi-Chikmagalur said, "In Karnataka BJP, brighter days would come with 'Shravana" month starting today." He is considered one of the driving force for the BJP garnering support in the state in 2008. His party work along with Yeddyurappa's is regarded as the building blocks to BJP's emergent power in the state. [Read: Complete profile of Sadananda Gowda]

There are also MLA's who are lobbying heavily for Yeddyurappa's continuation as the Chief Minister and if the party high command still stress on his ouster will back the nominee that Yeddyurappa names. There is also hectic parleys for making Yeddyurappa the state BJP President, a matter the BJP is not to keen on. This role is coveted since the State BJP Chief will play a key role in distribution of tickets in the elections that are due in May 2013.

Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa has communicated to BJP Party High Command that he needs a confirmation from them about the new CM before he submits his papers to quit.

OneIndia News