BSY's swearing-in: Congress, JD (S) stage protest at Gandhi statue in Vidhana Soudha

The Congress leaders have gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi Statue's in the Vidhana Soudha premises to stage a protest against BS Yeddyurappa's swearing-in as the Karnataka Chief Minister. The JD (S) leaders have also joined the Congress for the protest.

Senior Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabu Azad, Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal and Siddaramaiah, are present at the protest venue. As per latest reports, HD Deve Gowda has also joined the Congress leaders at the Gandhi statue to protest against BJP.

The Congress MLAs are lodged at Bengaluru's Eagleton Resort. The decision to keep them together was taken in order to thwart any attempts of poaching by the BJP ahead of the crucial floor test. Deve Gowda earlier today Shangri-La Hotel in Bengaluru where the JD (S) MLAs are staying.

The political temperatures are soaring high in Bengaluru after election result. The Congress and the JD (S) were left fuming after Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala on Wednesday evening allowed the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in assembly elections, to form the government and prove majority on the floor of the House within 15 days. The Congress had approached the Supreme Court and contended that the Governor's decision to call BJP for government formation first was unconstitutional. The Congress had sought court's intervention in the matter and demanded a stay on swearing in.

The apex court, however, refused to stay the swearing in of Yeddyurappa. Subsequently, Yeddyurappa took oath as the 23rd Chief Minister of Karnataka this morning (May 17).

The court said that the the outcome of the swearing in would be subject to the outcome of the petition filed by the Congress and JD(S). When Abhishek Manu Singvi pleaded that the swearing in be stayed, the court refused to do so. His plea to schedule the floor test in the Karnataka legislative assembly for Friday was also rejected.

The result of the Karnataka assembly elections 2018 was announced on May 15 and the BJP emerged as the single largest party by bagging 104 seats in a 224 seat assembly (polling was held in 222 seats on May 12). The BJP ended up eight seats short of the majority mark which gave the Congress and the JD (S) to cobble up an alliance and stake a claim to form the government. Congress-JD (S) combine has 118 seats, which is well above the halfway mark needed to form the government.