Basavaraj Bommai: Cricket enthusiast, mechanical engineer with Janata Dal roots

Basavaraj Bommai's appointment as Karnataka's 26th chief minister is the second instance in the state's politics for a father-son duo to have occupied the top post.

His father S R Bommai, a Janata Party leader, served as the state's 11th chief minister for one year between 1988 and 1989. The other father-son duo to have occupied the chief minister's post are JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy.

Bommai, too, began his political career in the undivided Janata Dal. After completing mechanical engineering from the BV Bhoomareddy College of Engineering and Technical Education, Hubballi, Bommai worked in a private company for two years.

Read: Why BJP picked Basavaraj Bommai to replace BSY as Karnataka CM

Born in January 28, 1960, Bommai was a student activist and led a Yuva Janata Dal rally in Hubli in 1993. In 1995, he was appointed as the general secretary of Janata Dal. The same year he was a part of the effort to resolve the Eidgah Maidan conflict in Hubballi. He served as the political secretary to the then chief minister J H Patel in 1996-1997. Between 1997 and 2003, he won twice as MLC from Hubli-Dharwad-Gadag (Local Authorities Constituency).

In 2008, Bommai jumped to the BJP from JD(U). He contested as a candidate from Shiggaon in Haveri, a constituency he has won thrice since. He served for five years as the water resources minister during the B S Yediyurappa-D V Sadananda Gowda-Jagadish Shettar regime between 2008 and 2013.

The three-time MLA served as the home minister in the previous Yediyurappa government.

Bommai will be the 8th chief minister from north Karnataka. The others include, B D Jatti, S R Kanthi, S Nijalingappa, Veerendra Patil, S R Bommai, Dharam Singh and Jagadish Shettar.

Bommai and his wife Chennamma have two children - Bharath and Aditi. The new chief minister's hobbies include reading, writing, cricket and golf. He was once chairperson of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, Dharwad.