Karnataka BJP president BS Yediyurappa takes oath as chief minister
After the HD Kumarswamy-led government collapsed on Tuesday, the Karnataka BJP had already been ready to form the government despite the lack of seven party members to meet the magic number. After being slammed by CLP leader Siddaramaiah and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy for not having majority to form the government, BJP state president BS Yediyurappa took oath as chief minister today
FollowBengaluru: Karnataka BJP president BS Yediyurappa took oath as chief minister at 6:30pm today (July 26) at Raj Bhavan. Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath.
CLP leader Siddaramaiah and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy slammed the state BJP, earlier in the day, stating that they do not have the majority to form the government.
After Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar disqualified three rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs on Thursday, the number of MLAs came down to 222. The Karnataka BJP has 105 MLAs which is seven votes short of the magic number.
Yediyurappa had earlier said today that he will be meeting the Governor to stake claim to form the government in the state. He had also said that he will request him to administer the oath.
Yediyurappa said, "I'm going to meet Governor today to stake claim to form government, today only I will request the Governor to administer me oath (sic).”
Yediyurappa for the last couple of days had been waiting for "instructions" from the party high command to stake claim to form the government after the Congress-JDS coalition government had collapsed after the floor test on Tuesday.
A group of Karnataka BJP leaders, including Jagdish Shettar, Arvind Limbavali, JC Madhuswamy, Basavaraj Bommai and Yediyurappa's son Vijayendra Thursday had met party chief Amit Shah in New Delhi and reportedly discussed the government formation.
Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Thursday had disqualified three rebel Congress MLAs under the anti-defection law.
The 14-month-old Congress-JDS coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy collapsed on Tuesday after losing the vote of confidence in the Assembly in a climax to the three-week long intense power struggle.
(With PTI inputs)
