The court has asked that the letter given by Yeddyurappa and senior BJP leaders to the Governor in which it was stated that the party has the requisite number of MLAs to form the government be produced before the court.
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Congress leaders today staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue next to the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, against the swearing in of B S Yeddyurappa as chief minister.
All eyes are now on Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala, who will have to invite one of these parties to form the government in the state.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra considered the submission of Jethmalani seeking urgent hearing and said that a three-judge special bench, which had heard petitions filed by the Congress party and the Janata Dal (Secular) in the early hours, would re-assemble tomorrow. The BJP needs eight MLAs and two Congress MLAs, Anand Singh and Pratapgouda Patil, have already “gone missing”.
Siddaramaiah himself lost by a huge margin of 36,042 votes in his traditional constituency of Chamundeshwari in Mysuru to JD (S’) GT Deve Gowda.
Eshwarappa, a BJP veteran, claimed several MLAs in the Congress and JD (S) were unhappy about the alliance and were likely to break away from their parties.
To this, the Justices Sikri, Bobde and Bhushan said they were wondering whether the Supreme Court can restrain a Governor that might lead to constitutional vacuum in a state.
In 2008, when the BJP was three seats short of majority, the Reddy brothers successfully wooed the MLAs in Congress by offering them money and ministerial berths.
He slammed the Congress-JD (S) alliance as “unholy” and said they were out to grab power even though the people had “rejected them outright”.
A strong showing by Modi’s BJP in Karnataka has given him momentum for a re-election bid in next year’s national polls and opened a path for more reforms, analysts say.
The chief minister has also taken controversial decisions such as proposing a flag for the state and emphasising the use of the local Kannada language.
On Tuesday, though Surjewala argued strongly for a post-poll coalition to form government, his words were quite the opposite when the BJP trounced the Congress in Goa (2017) and Meghalaya (2018) Assembly election to form the government. There’s a black spot on my father’s career because of my decision to go with the BJP in 2004 & 2005. If single largest party won’t be able to form government, other party will be called.
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Immediately thereafter, Yeddyurappa made a dash for Raj Bhavan and staked claim to form the government. They should not insult people’s mandate. For Modi, Karnataka is important for two reasons. Polling for R R Nagar seat was deferred on account of alleged electoral malpractices while it was countermanded in Jayanagar seat following the death of the BJP candidate.
