BSY sworn-in as Karnataka CM amid looming political uncertainty

Bengaluru, July 26: BS Yediyurappa on Friday took as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the fourth time days after HD Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JDS government collapsed. No other ministers took oath along with him as the decision on the cabinet is yet to be taken.

Yediyurappa waited for three days before staking a claim to form the government as the fate of the rebel MLAs because of whose resignation the Kumaraswamy Government collapsed remained uncertain.

Yediyurappa has been sworn as the chief minister of Karnataka by Governor Vajubhai Vala. He took oath at the Raj Bhavan before a packed crowd.

Yediyurappa earlier to day said that he staked a claim to form government after the BJP top leadership gave him a go ahead this morning.

On Thursday evening, the Speaker disqualified three MLAs, two Congress rebels and an independent and by Friday morning, B S Yediyurappa announced that he was on his way to Raj Bhavan to stake a claim to form the government.

The reason why the BJP top leadership did not immediately give a go ahead to stake government formation could be because while the fate of three MLAs was made clear by the Speaker, the decision on the remaining 13 has not been taken as yet.

For now this is how the numbers stand: With the disqualifications, the strength of the House now stands at 222. The magic number is 112 and the BJP has 105. With the support of one independent now, since the other one is disqualified the strength of the BJP in the house is 106 and that makes it 6 short of the majority mark.

The issue pertaining to the rebels is far from over and any decision taken by the Speaker would be challenged before the Supreme Court of India. The road ahead is rocky and finally the fate of Karnataka is most likely to be decided by the Supreme Court.