Yeddyurappa to take oath on May 30

Bangalore, May 28: Karnataka's Chief Minister-designate B.S. Yeddyurappa and his first list of ministers will now take their oath of office on Friday, instead of Wednesday. A decision to this effect was taken after the Central Government took its time to revoke President's rule in the state. It had to send a missive to President Pratibha Patil, who is currently on a six-day visit of Himachal Pradesh to officially revoke Central rule.

Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur brought up the "technical" hitch when he met BJP leaders on Monday at the Raj Bhavan here. To the surprise of the BJP contingent led by Yedyurappa, Thakur is believed to have told them that everything was in order except the swearing-in of the new government on Wednesday, as the BJP desired. Thakur read out a communication from the home ministry, received the same day, saying that the state was still under President's rule. If that was a problem, the governor, according to sources, was also informed that nothing could be done for three days since the President was on a vacation to Manali. BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley called L K Advani in Delhi to apprise him of the developments. Advani, according to sources, called Manmohan Singh at 10.30 p.m. on Monday and took up the matter with him.

On his part, Singh promptly spoke to Home Minister Shivraj Patil and got back to Advani. He told Advani that Patil had been asked to expedite the process, and that a Cabinet meeting would be called on Tuesday to revoke President's rule. The Union Cabinet met at short notice on Tuesday and decided to request the President to revoke central rule in Karnataka, to pave the way for the formation of new government.

The meeting took place to discuss only one issue, a spokesman said after the meeting. The proclamation imposing President's rule in Karnataka was issued on November 20, 2007.

ANI