Outgoing Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has finally had his way by installing his man Sadananda Gowd in the chief minister's chair. It was a battle not won easily. The BJP's 121 MLAs voted for Mr Gowda, who is a Lok Sabha MP, through secret ballot at a legislature party meeting held at Bangalore's Capitol Hotel this afternoon. Senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh supervised the voting, once it was clear that no consensus on one name was possible.

The two forerunners for the post, Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar, belong to rival camps. Mr Gowda is Mr Yeddyurappa's man and Jagdish Shettar belongs to the Ananth Kumar camp. Of the 118 MLAs who finally voted, sources say about 68 voted for Mr Gowda. Caste equations, which matter much, too were at the heart of this fight for the top position. Mr Yeddyurappa belongs to the powerful and dominant Lingayat community. The Ananth Kumar camp wanted Jagdish Shettar, also a Lingayat, to be CM to neutralise Mr Yeddyurappa's indubitable influence. On the other side, the Yeddyurappa camp was pushing for Sadananda Gowda, who is a Vokkaliga, another dominant community. With Gowda in the saddle, even after losing his chair, Mr Yeddyurappa remains the Lingayat strongman as ever.