• Scheduled to arrive in Delhi at 5.35 pm
• To meet Union Ministers later

We cannot count the days in politics. Anything could happen over the next week in the political situation in Karnataka.” Basavaraj Bommai had said on May 11 after a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is expected to tender his resignation in New Delhi before the BJP National President J.P. Nadda and Union Ministers tonight.

The CM has cancelled all his official meetings for today afternoon and finished his morning Bengaluru city rounds to assess rain damage in a hurry. He is scheduled to board an Indigo flight to New Delhi at 2.55 pm and arrive at 5.35 pm. His itinerary for today evening says that he will meet Union Ministers.

Highly placed sources told Star of Mysore this morning that the official announcement of the resignation will be made only after June 3, after the completion of withdrawal of nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to be held on June 10. 

Sources said that Basavaraj Bommai was to leave for New Delhi on Wednesday (May 18) night but as the rain battered Bengaluru, he sought two days’ time from the party high command. Amidst intense criticism from the flood-affected people of Bengaluru, he conducted a tour of the city to assess the damage.

Today he wrapped up the flood assessment tour in a jiffy and headed straight to his R.T. Nagar residence. People close to him, however, maintained that the CM is leaving for Delhi to discuss the Cabinet expansion and the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections. But official sources confirmed that the CM will resign but the formal announcement will only be made later.

Davos trip

After submitting his resignation, the CM will head for the World Economic Forum Summit to be held in Davos.

Bommai will leave on May 22 to attend the summit and return to Bengaluru on May 26. The BJP has already decided to send Bommai to Davos along with the CM of a non-BJP ruled State.

Bommai had earlier announced plans to travel to London and Davos between May 18 and 26. While the London leg of the tour, where he was scheduled to unveil a statue of Lingayat Saint Basavanna, was cancelled, Bommai was still undecided on Davos part of the trip, scheduled from May 22-26, on account of uncertainty in the State’s political situation.

“I will decide soon (on travel to Davos). For the Davos event, I am one of two Chief Ministers who have been invited, so it is of importance,” Bommai had said last Saturday. “However, since many issues have come up — like elections to the Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha — it is to be decided how many days I should be away, and when I should go,” he had stated.

Meeting with Amit Shah

The uncertainty in Bommai’s remarks came after his May 11 visit to New Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah where his continuance as the CM was discussed along with the impending changes in the State Cabinet.

After meeting Amit Shah, Bommai had stated that anything could happen over the next week in the political situation in Karnataka. “We cannot count the days in politics (on when changes will take place),” he had said.

Sources said that in seeking Basavaraj Bommai’s resignation, the BJP high command is following the same pattern like the one it had followed when it sought the resignation of B.S. Yediyuyrappa. Though Yediyurappa was made to resign in advance, the official announcement came only after a fortnight.