'Next CM of K'taka to be surprise choice'

Bengaluru: Shivamogga MP BY Raghavendra, adding to the suspense among public and political circles in Karnataka as the state awaits the ruling BJP to announce the next Chief Minister, said that the selection will be a surprise choice.

Raghavendra, who is also caretaker Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son said, ” Next Karnataka CM will be a surprise choice like those made by the party in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

“For instance, even during the latest Union cabinet reshuffle, neither you (media) nor us (politicians) could predict what was to happen,” Raghavendra said at Bengaluru airport on Tuesday, July 27.

Meanwhile, initiating the formal process to replace B S Yediyurappa, who resigned as Chief Minister, the BJP central leadership has directed the state unit to convene a meeting of the legislature party here on Tuesday evening.

“There is a legislature party meeting today at 7 pm at a private hotel,” Basavaraj S Bommai, who served as Home Minister in the dissolved B S Yediyurappa Cabinet, told reporters here.

After this, a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board will be held where a final decision (on the new Chief Minister) will be taken, he said.

Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy, along with BJP general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh — the observers from the BJP central leadership — are expected to attend the legislature party meeting, a top party functionary told PTI.

Yediyurappa on Monday resigned his post exactly on the day he completed his two years in office.