Karnataka floor test: Will Yeddyurappa sail through or be a 'one day CM' like Jagdambika Pal

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa faces a crucial floor test tommorrow after the Supreme Court decided against giving 15 days time for the trust vote as proposed by Governor Vajubhai Vala. The total strength of the House now is 221 and the magic number would be 111 since polls in two assemblies have been deferred and H D Kumaraswamy holds two seats.

The BJP has 104 seats and would need to touch the 111 mark to stay in power. Splitting the Congress and JD(S) would be impossible in the wake of the anti-defection law. The BJP is 8 short with 104 MLAs. The Congress-JDS combine claim that they have the support of 117 MLAs which is well above the required majority mark.

It would be interesting to see what strategy BJP would come up with to pass the floor test. There is just too less time left for the BJP to convince the opposition MLAs to switch sides. Moreover, the Congress and JDS have lodged their MLAs in resorts to prevent any attemepts to poach them.

If BS Yeddyurappa fails to clear the floor test then the tag of 'one-day CM' would linger with him for a long time, just like it had stuck with Jagdambika Pal.

Jagdambika Pal and the events that unfolded in UP Assembly in 1998:

Jagdambika Pal was a Congress leader until he resigned on from the party on 7 March, 2014 and joined Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on 19 March, 2014.

On 21 February, 1998, the then UP Governor Romesh Bhandari dismissed Kalyan Singh-led BJP government after the Loktantrik Congress withdrew support. Kalyan Singh had formed an unstable government with 93 member cabinet comprising of ministers from different political parties. Naresh Agrawal was one of the key defectors which led to the fall of Kalyan Singh's government.

Romesh Bhandari then invited Jagdambika Pal to form the new government when the same Naresh Agrawal withdrew support to Kalyan Singh's government and became deputy chief minister in Jagdambika's short-lived government.

The order was stayed by a division bench of the Allahabad High Court which directed that the Kalyan Singh's government be re-instated. Naresh Agrawal, who had become deputy chief minister in Jagdambika Pal's government, returned to BJP fold after the court order. When Kalyan Singh successfully proved his majority on the floor of the assembly with the support of Agrawal as well as some BSP rebels, Agrawal claimed that he had succeeded in proving that only his party could provide a stable government. The BSP rebels were to be rewarded with ministerial berths and this was duly done within days.

Since then, tag on 'one-day CM' became strongly associated with Jagdambika Pal.