Yeddy wins!

While Sadananda Gowda was elected as the new CM through secret ballot, sources in the BJP say the voting was just a sham by the high command to meet Yeddyurappa's demand of electing 'his man' for the coveted post

The political drama in the state came to a shattering climax with D V Sadananda Gowda being elected as the new chief minister by the BJP legislative party yesterday through secret vote. However, party sources said that the secret ballot was just a sham by the high command to meet Yeddyurappa's demand to make Gowda the new CM.


Top secret: The BJP didn't reveal the vote share between Sadananda
Gowda and his rival Jagdish Shettar

Although the new CM was elected through vote, the vote share between him and his rival Jagdish Shettar was not announced. Party sources said that while Gowda scored 65, Shettar got 53 votes in a legislative party numbering 119 members. Furthermore, speaker K G Bopiah's vote was not considered.


Vote-ever: Although Sadananda Gowda was elected as the new Chief
Minister through ballot, the vote share between him and his rival
Jagdish Shettar was not announced. Pic/Satish Badiger

In the dark
"While announcing the result, it was a deliberate move not to reveal the vote sharing. The high command wanted to concede to Yeddyurappa's demand, but didn't want it to look like they yielded," said the source.
Since the result was pre-determined, Delhi observers -- Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley -- met the legislative party yesterday at a hotel and told legislators that they were conducting the polls, but the numbers would not be announced.

Fair and square
The result was announced after the votes were counted in the presence of the candidates and Shettar congratulated Gowda. "Gowda did not have the majority and won the polls genuinely because Yeddyurappa camp and enough numbers, but the high command chose not to show the vote share as they didn't want to expose a divide in the party," said a legislator attended the meeting. However, it was evident that the Ananth Kumar camp was unhappy with the fall out of the development.

Mind games?
They met at Eswarappa's residence after Gowda was elected and decided to boycott the swearing in ceremony of the new CM scheduled for 4.30 pm today. According to sources in the BJP, this is simply a gimmick by the MLAs to get plum posts in the cabinet.

"There are certain issues to be sorted out, and we may not go to the function," said R Ashok, identified with Ananth. However, he said nothing was confirmed yet and they would take a final decision when they meet today at Shettar's residence.

Know your CM
> Sadananda Gowda (58), is a teetotaler and lives in a rented house in the city.
> He is embroiled in controversy for illegally amalgamating a site allotted to him by the BDA with an adjacent site to build a housing complex.
> He is a believer, but not suppositious and visits Mahalingeswara temple in his hometown Puttur.
> He has no leaning towards rituals, pujas and black magic, unlike his predecessor Yeddyurappa.
> He believes in Bhootaradhane, a folk ritual followed by people of coastal Karnataka, and also believes in Vaastu and managed to construct the BJP office accordingly.
> He recently sold his house in Puttur as it was not Vaastu compliant, which he believes caused the accidental death of one of his two sons and injuries to the other.
> Sadananda savours fish curry, while mutton is his meat of choice.
> While films and music are not his favourite pastimes, he has acted in Yakshagaana plays.
> He has represented Mysore University for Kho Kho during his younger days.