Yediyurappa is Chief Minister, but the road ahead is a rocky one

Bengaluru, July 27: B S Yediyurappa surprised everyone on Friday morning, when said that he was staking a claim to form the government. By evening he had been sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the fourth time.

When he made the decision, all wondered whether he had hurried into it, without consulting the central leadership of the party. By evening, both Amit Shah and J P Nadda congratulated Yediyurappa and said that he would provide stable governance.

During the swearing-in-ceremony, only one central leader, Muralidhar Rao was present. This fuelled further speculation, whether the Delhi leadership was happy with the decision.

However sources that OneIndia spoke with said, more details from Delhi would have taken part. However the ceremony was held on very short notice and with the Parliament session on, it would have been difficult.

The decision by the Speaker to disqualify three MLAs could have also been another reason for Yediyurappa to waste no time and go to Raj Bhavan.For Yeddyurappa, the first priority was to stake a claim and then be sworn in.

This is just one development and the road ahead for Yeddyurappa is not exactly an easy one. If the Speaker does not disqualify the rest of the MLAs, Yeddyurappa would need to accommodate each one of them in his cabinet or ministry. He would then have to take a trust vote on the floor of the House. In case no decision is taken by the Speaker, Yediyurappa would have to bank on the MLAs abstaining, so that the house strength is reduced.

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 BJP would look to take the trust vote in the house which would have a reduced strength. After the resignations of the MLAs, the House strength had come down to 208. With the disqualifications and if the rebels remain absent in the House, the strength would be 205. This means that the magic number is 103 and the BJP has 105 on its own and the support of one independent MLA.

In such a scenario, Yeddyurappa would look to take a floor test on a House with a reduced strength. The rebels have already gone to the Supreme Court and the matter may come up for hearing on Monday itself.