Bangalore, Jan 28 (IANS) K.S. Eshwarappa, a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS) loyalist, was Thursday unanimously elected president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Karnataka unit.
The 60-year-old Eshwarappa resigned as energy minister on his election to the party post. He will take over from D.V. Sadananda Gowda Jan 30 in the presence of BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, party general secretary and Lok Sabha member H.N. Ananth Kumar and other senior BJP leaders congratulated Eshwarappa at the party office in north Bangalore after his unanimous election.

Eshwarappa returns to the party post after a gap of nearly 14 years. He headed the state unit 1993-96.

A three-time legislator from Shimoga, about 270 km from Bangalore, he joined the RSS in his school days and has risen in the BJP ranks after being active in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

A commerce graduate, he was elected to the assembly for the first time in 1989, reelected in 1999 but was defeated in 2004. He bounced back in the 2008 polls.

Eshwarappa is known to be hard task master who frowns upon attempts to dilute the party’s principles and aims for the sake of capturing power.

Enjoying the RSS backing and support of the party veterans, he is expected to restore discipline in the party which has been hit by dissidence since it came to power for the first time in the state in May 2008.

Eshwarappa’s choice would also ensure Yeddyurappa does not ignore the party while taking decisions, party leaders say.

A major complaint against Yeddyurappa has been he takes unilateral decisions and gives preference to newcomers ignoring loyal party workers.