Sadananda Gowda resigned as the chief minister of Karnataka on Wednesday and Jagadish Shettar met Governor H R Bhardwaj at Raj Bhavan to stake his claim to form the new government. Shettar will be sworn in as the new Karnataka CM on Thursday. However, the crisis is not yet over for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
While the path for Shettar has been cleared, the issue of Cabinet expansion is still under discussion. That however is not the BJP's biggest worry. They have managed strike a balance and will give equal representation to both the B S Yeddyurappa faction and the Gowda camp.
They have also done their best to quell the controversy surrounding the deputy CM's chair and in all probability will have two posts. A formal decision to this effect is, however, awaited.
The BJP could take some more time before it could finalise the name of a state president. The post is likely to remain vacant once K S Eshwarappa is made the deputy CM along with R Ashok.
The Gowda camp is firm that that it wants him to be appointed as the next