Karnataka gets B.S.Yediyurappa as Chief Minister for the 4th time
The President of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka – B.S. Yediyurappa has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka on late Friday evening, i.e., July 26, 2019.
The oath to office and secrecy of the new Chief Minister was administered by the Governor of Karnataka – Vajubhai Vala at Raj Bhavan. The Council of Ministers will take oath at a later date as the newly formed BJP Government has not yet finalised the names of the MLAs who would be a part of the State Government. B.S. Yediyurappa has to now prove majority in a week’s time.
The INC and Janata Dal (Secular) have condemned the Governor’s move of inviting BJP to form the Government as BJP is yet to prove its majority in the Assembly. It has also termed this move as anti-democratic.
For the records, the move comes after the coalition Government of Indian National Congress (INC) and Janata Dal (Secular) failed to win the trust vote in the Karnataka State Assembly. The H.D. Kumaraswamy’s Government could get only 99 votes as against BJP who got 105 votes. H.D. Kumaraswamy was compelled to go through the floor test after 18 MLAs, including 2 Independent, withdrew their support from the Government.
Post this, the Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly – K.R. Ramesh Kumar disqualified the 3 rebel Congress MLAs, making them ineligible to become minister in the Yediyurappa’s Government.
The Speaker is yet to decide on the 14 other MLAs.
If these undecided MLAs vote in favour of BJP, then B.S. Yediyurappa would continue his 4th term as BJP will have 120 votes. If these MLAs stay away from voting, the strength of Karnataka State Assembly would be 207. In such a case, the half-way mark would be 104. Even if this happens, BJP is comfortably in.
The only case BJP can be toppled is if INC and Janata Dal (Secular) can convince these rebel MLAs to come back to their fold. This will restrict BJP to 106, when it requires 112 to prove majority.
This is B.S. Yediyurappa’s 4th term as the Chief Minister. His last term lasted only 3 days as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He had earlier taken oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka in May 2018 after the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the State polls. However, B.S. Yediyurappa had to resign as BJP failed to win the support from other parties.
His 1st term lasted only a week in 2007 as Janata Dal (Secular) didn’t honour its commitment of supporting BJP. His 2nd term was the longest as the Chief Minister. It lasted 3 years and 2 months from May 2008 to July 2011. His term ended when he was indicted by the Karnataka Lokayukta in a corruption case.
