Karnataka government formation: BS Yeddyurappa takes oath and other top developments

Bengaluru: BJP legislature party leader BS Yeddyurappa on Friday took oath as the Karnataka Chief Minister, hours after the Supreme Court declined to stay his swearing-in ceremony. Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to Yeddyurappa at 9 am at the Raj Bhavan amid tight security.

Following are the top developments related to government formation in Karnataka:

- This is the third time Yeddyurappa took oath as the state Chief Minister, a decade after he became the BJP's first Chief Minister in south India in May 2008 when the party came to power for the first time in the southern state.

- I am thankful to the people of the state, especially farmers and the poor, who have supported me. As the people are with me, I am confident of winning the majority and be in power for the next five years," Yeddyurappa said at a press conference.

- The Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leaders protested against the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa and termed the Governor's decision "unconstitutional". Constitutionally, we (JD-S and Congress) should have been given the chance to form the government as we together have the majority in the assembly. The Governor's decision to invite the BJP to form the government is against the Constitution," state unit Congress chief G Parameshwara told reporters.

- Among the Congress leaders who protested were former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, party general secretary KC Venugopal and senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. JD(S) supremo and former PM HD Deve Gowda also joined the protest, while his son and JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy attacked the Modi government for "demolishing" democracy.

- Earlier, a three-judge bench of the apex court rejected a joint writ petition, filed by the Congress and the JD(S) on Wednesday night, to halt the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister at a special pre-dawn hearing.

- The top court, however, said the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa was subject to the final outcome of the matter before it and posted the case for further hearing at 10.30 am on Friday. The bench, headed by Justice AK Sikri, also sought the letter Yeddyurappa wrote to the Governor on Wednesday, informing him about his election as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislature party leader in Karnataka.

- The Governor on Wednesday night invited Yeddyurappa to form the government and prove within 15 days that he had a majority in the Legislative Assembly. Although the BJP emerged as the single-largest party winning 104 seats in the May 12 Assembly election, it fell short of eight seats from the 112-halfway mark in the lower House, in which the Congress trailed behind with 78 wins and the regional JD(S)+ 37 seats.

- "We have a need to safeguard our MLAs from poaching by the BJP," Kumaraswamy told reporters. Congress leader DK Shivakumar said the party had the support of all its legislators and its leadership was in touch with all the legislators.

(With IANS inputs)