Basavaraj Bommai, With BS Yediyurappa's Blessing, Takes Charge

Basavaraj Bommai took oath as Karnataka Chief Minister today, succeeding BS Yediyurappa who resigned on Monday. Mr Bommai was sworn-in by the Governor in a brief ceremony in state capital Bengaluru. Mr Yediyurappa was present on the stage. Mr Bommai, 61, was picked for the top post in Karnataka at a meeting of BJP MLAs yesterday. An MLA from Shiggaon in central Karnataka's Haveri district, Mr Bommai is a politically powerful Lingayat leader like Mr Yediyurappa and was among his close confidantes. The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community forms 16 per cent of Karnataka's 68 million population. The son of Janata Dal's SR Bommai - a former Chief Minister of Karnataka in the 1980s - Mr Bommai joined the BJP from the Janata Dal United in 2008, along with 22 others JDU functionaries. He told NDTV that he "never expected it" and had faith only in his "hard work".