When the Central leadership sacked BS Ydiyurappa, it had disastrous consequences for the BJP in Karnataka. It has never won an Assembly election in the State since then. The party had to bring its old war horse back to reclaim Karnataka in the saffron camp.

Though the BJP did not win the 2018 Assembly election, Yediyurappa was able to engineer a majority, bring down the Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition government within a year and form a BJP government in Bengaluru. The BJP leadership in Delhi did not like his growing strength and ways of governance.

Exactly a decade after its 2011 blunder, the BJP gave the marching orders to Yediyurappa, but allowed him to choose the date of his resignation and name his successor. To claim the Chief Minister has crossed the age-limit of 75 is an eyewash. Only a few months earlier the BJP fielded 89-year-old Sreedharan as the party’s Chief Minister candidate in neighbouring Kerala State.

Yediyurappa’s choice of Basavaraj Bommai as successor has been hailed by all sections. Yediyurappa resigned on completing two years in office on 26 July and Bommai was sworn in as Chief Minister on 28 July. But he could not form his council of ministers due to differences with the high command.

The much-awaited cabinet formation took place on 4 August but portfolios could not be allotted till the time of writing. Yediyurappa’s request to name his younger son BY Viijayendra as one of the deputy chief ministers was not conceded. The national leadership did not want to have any whiff of dynastic politics in Karnataka.

Vijayendra, however, will continue as one of the vice-presidents of the Karnataka unit of the BJP which remains the hand-maiden of the former Chief Minister. Bommai, who was handpicked by Yediyurappa as successor, has done away with the post of deputy chief minister as superfluous, but he retained 23 ministers from the 33-member tainted government of Yediyurappa. Only six new faces were brought in.

Bommai is still unable to distribute portfolios to his council of ministers because of differences between the party high command and Yediyurappa. Most of the 23 retained ministers want to continue with their existing portfolios.

The new entrants are eyeing portfolios like Bengaluru Development, Public Work, Panchayat Raj and Water Resources. Those left out of his ministry have been meeting secretly under the leadership Ramesh Jarkiholi and CP Yogeshwar to draw up their own strategy.

Bommai has ensured the dominant Lingayat community continues to dominate the new council of ministers with eight seats, followed by Vokkaligas and Other Backward Castes seven seats each, three Schedule Castes and one Schedule Tribe. The sanctioned strength of the Council of Ministers is 34. Bommai claims that he will not be a rubber stamp Chief Minister.

The mandate given to him is to provide a clean and efficient administration but the baggage he inherited from Yediyurappa will make it a herculean task. History is repeating itself.