BS Yeddyurappa stakes claim to form govt in Karnataka, to take oath as Chief Minister at 6 pm

BS Yeddyurappa is all set to take oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka at 6 pm today. The Karnataka BJP chief met Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala today morning to stake claim to form the government in the state. There were reports that he had asked the Governor to organise the oath-taking ceremony at around 12:30 pm today. However, after meeting the Governor, Yeddyurappa said that “I will take oath as Chief Minister today at 6 pm.”

The development comes a day after senior Karnataka leaders met party chief Amit Shah and working president JP Nadda in the national capital.

The BJP leaders from Karnataka discussed the political situation in the state. They included Jagadish Shettar, Basavraj Bommai and Arvind Limbavali, sources said.

Also Read: Karnataka Crisis: Speaker KR Ramesh disqualifies one Independent, two Congress MLAs 

The 14-month-old Congress-JDS government lost the trust vote by 105-99 in the House on Tuesday after three weeks of intense power struggle in the state.

According to sources, the party leadership was waiting for Speaker KR Ramesh to decide on resignations of rebel MLAs to avoid any future embarrassment.

The Speaker has disqualified one Independent and two Congress rebel MLAs as Assembly member till end of term in 2023. Those disqualified Karnataka legislators include Independent MLA R Shankar, Congress MLAs Ramesh Jharkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli.

On Wednesday, Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said he was awaiting instructions from the central party leadership on staking claim to form an alternative government.

Also Read: Karnataka Floor Test: Kumaraswamy govt falls after failing to prove majority, loses by 105-99 votes

Shankar is one of the two Independent MLAs who withdrew support to the Kumaraswamy government and switched sides ahead of trust vote held in Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday. Jarkiholi and Kumathalli too submitted their resignations in early July, pushing the 14-month old wobbly Congress-JDS government to the brink of collapse. The decision to disqualify the Karnataka legislators has been announced by the Speaker during a media briefing over the status of the rebel MLAs in the politically unstabled state.

All three cannot contest elections till the 15th state assembly is dissolved, the Speaker said, dashing hopes of ministerial berths under a BJP government that most of them were promised. "I have rejected the resignations... the way they have come - it compelled me to arrive at the inference that resignations were not voluntary and genuine," Kumar said.