Mr Jagdish Shettar will be the new Chief Minister of Karnataka. Announcing this in New Delhi today, BJP President Nitin Gadkari said, Mr Sadanand Gowda has submitted his resignation to the party and he has accepted it.

Mr Gadkari said that a meeting of the Party's core committee was held yesterday to discuss the political situation in the State. He said, senior party leaders Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley will go to Bengalore tomorrow to oversee the formal election of Mr Shettar as Chief Minister of Karnataka by the party MLAs. Mr Gadkari said after that, BJP State legislative party will meet the Governor HR Bhardwaj to apprise him about the change of leadership. Asked if Deputy Chief Ministers would also be appointed by the party as was reported earlier, Mr Gadkari said no such decision has been taken on this issue.

AIR correspondent reports that this marks the third change of leadership in the State in 11 months. The latest change apparently comes because of pressure from Yeddiyurappa, who was removed as Chief Minister last year in wake of corruption allegations against him. With the Assembly elections just 10 months away, the BJP central leadership accepted Yeddiyurappa's demand who was insisting for some time now that Gowda should be replaced with his close associate Shettar, a Lingayat leader and Rural Development Minister.

Meanwhile , Congress has said that only fresh poll can solve the problem of Karnataka and not a change of guard. AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad told reporters in New Delhi that there is a continuous governance paralysis in the BJP ruled state. He said 129 talukas are suffering from severe drought and the state government has not taken any action to ameliorate the lot of the common people. Hariprasad said the government has also failed on the law and order front in Bangalore and other parts of the state.