Jagadish Shettar will be the new Chief Minister of Karnataka--the third in four years--and will be sworn in on Thursday after he was elected leader of ruling BJP legislature party today amid high drama over demands from warring factions before the change of guard. The election of the 56-year-old Lingayat leader, which defused yet another crisis that gripped BJP's first government in south India, came after some last minute muscle flexing by the outgoing Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda's camp that delayed the legislature party meeting by at least five hours. The term of the BJP government is due to end in May 2013.

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