BS Yeddyurappa in his maiden press conference soon after taking the oath of office and secrecy as Chief Minister appealed upon the newly elected Janata Dal Secular and Congress legislators to vote in accordance to their conscience during the crucial vote of confidence.
He also allayed fears about proving majority on the floor of the house and expressed full confidence in establishing the same soon much before the deadline of 15 days given to him by the Governor.However he refused to add further on queries as to how he would prove the majority in the absence of required numbers to his party.
BS Yeddyurappa recalled the 1969 elections to the post of the country’s President when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had called upon her own party men to vote as per their conscience.He felt the need of the hour is to vote on similar lines in the overall interest of development of the state.
The new chief minister also announced in his first media interaction that he is committed to adhering to the assurances he had made before coming to power.The chief secretary has been instructed to revert on the details about the quantum of money that needs to be waived off as per his declaration made before the polls.
BS Yeddyurappa had announced waiver of farmers loans to the extent of Rs. one lakh availed from nationalized banks,crop loans borrowed by cooperative societies and loans to the extent of Rs. one lakh borrowed by the weavers of the state.
He claimed that the people of the state have given a mandate to the BJP and not the JDS and Congress.Yet both the JDS and Congress have formed an unholy alliance just to be in power,he charged.
The chief minister for the third time also thanked the people of the state for returning the party in such big numbers.He also thanked the party workers,Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amith Shah for their efforts in bringing the party back to power.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

BS Yeddyurappa has been sworn-in as the chief minister of Karnataka after the Supreme Court refused to stay Governor’s decision. However, the top court has kept it subject to the case’s outcome.
CM Yeddyurappa has said he was “100 percent sure” of winning the vote of confidence in the assembly and completing the five-year term.

He slammed the Congress-JDS alliance as “unholy” and charged they were out to grab power though the people had “rejected them outright”, PTI has reported.

“I am sure of winning the vote of confidence and my government completing five years,” said Yeddyurappa, who has been given 15-days window by Governor Vajubhai Vala in a controversial decision that has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Thursday approached the Supreme Court in his personal capacity against Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision of inviting BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa to form a new government in the state despite being eight short of a simple majority in the assembly.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked Jethmalani to mention his plea on Friday before the bench concerned.

Jethmalani, who had taken retirement from law practice, told the bench that the Karnataka Governor’s order is a “gross abuse of Constitutional power”.

The apex court early on Thursday after a midnight hearing refused to stall the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa as Karnataka’s new Chief Minister.

Yeddyurappa took the oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Raj Bhavan amid tight security.

The court, however, sought the communications which Yeddyurappa had written to Karnataka Governor informing him his election as BJP legislature party.

The apex court said that the swearing-in is subject to the final outcome of the matter before it.

The bench headed by Justice A.K. Sikri, while seeking Yeddyurappa’s response on the petition by Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) seeking to stall his swearing-in, has directed further hearing of the matter at 10.30 a.m. on Friday.

Loud chants of “Modi, Modi” by about 100 jubilant cadres of the BJP were heard at the oath-taking ceremony of their leader B.S. Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister of Karnataka at Raj Bhavan here on Thursday.

Even as Yeddyurappa was signing the relevant papers after taking oath in Kannada, administered by Governor Vajubhai R. Vala, the “Modi, Modi” chants reverberated across the ‘Glass House’ in the green lawns of Raj Bhavan in the city center.

Excited over Yeddyurappa, 75, becoming Chief Minister for the third time, celebrations broke out in front of Raj Bhavan, at the party’s office in the city’s northwest suburb and many districts across the southern state.

Sporting a green shawl, symbolizing solidarity with farmers in the state, Yeddyurappa took the oath in the name of god and farmers.

Among the party’s national and state leaders present at the simple swearing-in ceremony were Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar, J.P. Nadda, D.V. Sadanda Gowda and Ananth Kumar and Lok Sabha lawmakers from the state Prahlad Joshi and Shobha Karandlaje.

Though Yeddyurappa was seen smiling and waving the victory, he did not speak to the media on the occasion but headed to the state’s secretariat in the nearby Vidhana Soudha building that also houses the state legislature.

The BJP leader, who was invited by the Governor on Wednesday to take oath as the Chief Minister and form the government, was directed to prove his majority on the floor of the House within 15 days of assuming office.

“We will get the support and prove our majority on the floor of the House,” a confident Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar told reporters outside Raj Bhavan.

Sadanand Gowda called it an end of dictatorship as Yeddyurappa took the oath as the 23rd Chief Minister of the state.

“Though the power-hungry JD-S (Janata Dal-Secular) and Congress tried to stop the mass leader BSY (B.S.Yeddyurappa) from becoming CM, people of Karnataka held the hand of BSY tight. Dictatorship is over now. It’s the people’s government in Karnataka,” Gowda tweeted.

BJP’s legislature party leader B.S. Yeddyurappa took oath as the Karnataka Chief Minister here on Thursday hours after the Supreme Court declined to stay his swearing-in ceremony.

Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to Yeddyurappa at 9 a.m. at the Raj Bhavan amid tight security.

Yeddyurappa, 75, took the oath in Kannada in the presence of party’s central and state leaders and its newly-elected legislators and senior officials.

Earlier, a three-judge bench of the apex court rejected a joint writ petition of the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) to stall the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister at a special pre-dawn hearing.

The top court, however, said the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa was subject to the final outcome of the matter before it and posted the case for further hearing at 10.30 a.m. on Friday.

The bench, headed by Justice A.K. Sikri, also sought the letter Yeddyurappa wrote to the Governor on Wednesday informing him his election as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s legislature party leader in Karnataka.

He was elected for the eighth time from the Shikaripura assembly segment in Shivamogga district of the Malnad region on May 12 when polling was held in 222 constituencies across the state and results were declared on Tuesday.

This is the third time Yeddyurappa took oath as the Karnataka Chief Minister, a decade after he became the BJP’s first Chief Minister in south India in May 2008 when the party came to power for the first time in Karnataka.

He was sworn-in for the first time as the chief minister in October 2007 as the party’s leader in the JD-S-BJP coalition government that lasted for over a month, resulting in President’s rule from November to April and mid-term assembly elections in May 2008.

BJP’s legislature party leader B.S. Yeddyurappa was sworn-in as the Karnataka Chief Minister here on Thursday hours after the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead in a pre-dawn hearing.

Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office to Yeddyurappa at 9 a.m. in the ‘Glass House’ of Raj Bhavan amid tight security.

Yeddyurappa, 75, took the oath in Kannada in the present central and state leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and newly-elected legislators and senior officials.

Earlier in the day, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court declined to stay the swearing-in of Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister.

Tuesday saw a high drama befitting the most important political battle of 2018. A few hours into counting of votes in the Karnataka Assembly elections, when it looked that the BJP could grab 100-plus seats, the Congress made a stunning announcement – of offering unconditional support to the Janata Dal (Secular) and staking claim to form a coalition government. An outsmarted BJP also declared it will stake claim to form the next government given that it has emerged as the single largest party.

The final results threw up a fractured verdict – BJP 104 seats, Congress 78 and the JD(S) 37 – with no party having a clear majority of 113 seats in the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly. Amid massive fears of poaching, the drama has moved on to a second day with the spotlight firmly on the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru and everyone keenly watching who Governor Vajubhai Vala will call for the floor test. BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa met the Governor this morning. Congress and JD(S) went to the Raj Bhavan last evening.

All that has happened since the Karnataka Election results were declared:

* Congress and JDS took their MLAs to the Raj Bhavan at 5pm. They may possibly parade them before Governor Vajabhai Vala to buttress their claim of having enough numbers to form the government.

* Earlier, BS Yeddyurappa met the Governor Wednesday morning. In a presser later, he said: “I met the Governor and handed over letters of support that we have. He told me he will take the appropriate decision as early as possible.”

* only 66 out of the 78 MLAs were present at the Congress legislative meeting held at KPCC office in Bengaluru. Congress, however, said some MLAs were delayed as they took a special flight from Bidar.

*JD(S) president H D Kumaraswamy is elected leader of JD(S) legislature party. In a press conference, he said his MLAs were being offered Rs 100 crore and cabinet ranks. BJP’s Prakash Javadekar rejected the charges as ‘imaginary’.

Karnataka government formation: Congress-JD(S) and BJP stake claim to power Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumaraswamy speaks to the media on Tuesday after staking claim to form the government with the Congress
* Congress’ Amaregouda Linganagouda Patil Bayyapur, who won the election from Kushtagi, says he was contacted by the BJP and asked to switch sides,

* Siddaramaiah said the Governor has to invite the JD(S)-Congress to form the government as they have the support of 117 MLAs. “PM Modi is encouraging horse-trading. We are all united,” he said on claims of dissent in the party.

* if Congress-JD(S) were not invited by the Governor, then their MLAs will sit on a ‘dharna’ outside Raj Bhavan from tomorrow. MPs may also join them.

* When asked if Congress would take the legal recourse, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told that: “At this juncture, we’ve complete faith in the Governor that he will go by the Constitution and not party politics.”

*BJP’s central leadership had on Tuesday rushed leaders J P Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan and Prakash Javadekar to Bengaluru. P Muralidhar Rao, in-charge of Karnataka who had come to Delhi Monday, also returned to the state after meeting Amit Shah

*After the results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “I want to assure the people of Karnataka that the BJP will not allow the state’s development journey to be trampled upon”.

*As many as 18 ministers of the Siddaramaiah government were defeated. The Chief Minister himself lost one of the two seats he contested by a wide margin.

*The BJP won 16 of 19 seats in coastal Karnataka as against four in 2013, and 30 of 50 seats in the Mumbai Karnataka region where it won only 13 last time.

*Over a year ago, the BJP had formed governments in Manipur and Goa despite not being the single largest party in the polls. Much like BJP now, Congress had then cried foul and termed it ‘murder of democracy’.

Karnataka’s outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of encouraging horse-trading to lure Congress and JD-S legislators to their party for forming the government after the May 12 assembly election gave a fractured mandate.

“Modi and Shah are supporting BJP leaders in horse-trading to poach legislators of our party and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) to prevent us from forming the next government in the state,” Siddaramaiah told the media here.

Asserting that the party would not allow the BJP to form a government in the state at any cost, Siddaramaiah said none of the Congress legislators were missing or likely to defect to the BJP.

“We have a plan to safeguard our MLAs, who are together and will not join the BJP, which has 8 less seats for the 112-halfway mark and prove majority,” Siddaramaiah said.

Of the 222 assembly segments in the state, the BJP has won 104, Congress 78 and JD-S 38, including one by its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

“We have extended our support to the JD-S to form the new government, with its state leader H.D. Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister. As we have the numbers (118), Governor Vajubhai R. Vala should call our alliance first than the BJP, which does not have the required numbers,” pointed out Siddaramaiah.

Both the post-poll alliance partners met Vala on Tuesday evening and staked claim to form the new government in the southern state.

Outgoing power minister and Congress winner D.K. Shivakumar said the party’s legislators were intact and none were ready to switch over to the BJP.

Party’s senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) met here and passed a unanimous resolution to support Kumaraswamy, who was elected as JD-S legislative party leader earlier in the day.

“We have sought appointment with the Governor to submit our resolution and letters of our party legislators in support our stake to claim power,” Azad told reporters at the party office in the city centre.

MB Patil,former Major Irrigation minister today claimed that the party is in touch with six BJP MLAs’ and they will be soon switching over their loyalty towards the Congress party.
He made this claim before a group of media persons before departing from the Congress legislature party meeting:We are also in touch with six BJP MLAs’ and in all likelihood they would be soon switching over the sides.
However he refused to divulge more details in this regard:It’s all false to say that our legislators are in touch with BJP and on the other hand it is six BJP MLAs’ who are in touch with us and keen on switching sides.
He refused to comment on the development of only 66 newly elected legislators making it to the CLP meeting though 78 members have been elected on behalf of the party.Much before the meeting came to a close the total increased to 74 and the other four remained inaccessible to the party leaders giving rise to all types of speculations.
Among such legislators include Anandsingh,B Nagendra and Bheema Naik. R Shankar elected on a KPJP ticket from Ranebennur has already joined the BJP group raising its strength from 104 to 105 while the JDS-Congress alliance group has claimed a majority of 116 members.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

Siddaramaiah couldn’t control his emotions this morning in the Congress legislature meeting when he literally wept following the party’s debacle in the recently concluded general elections in spite of giving a good governance.
The incident took place when the outgoing chief minister was chatting with his close associates much before the legislature party meeting.He’s said to have suddenly become emotional over the severe drubbing the party received at the hustings.
Once the chief minister started weeping Dharmasena,party MLC and many others also started crying.The chief minister is said to have complained that in spite of traveling the length and breadth of the state for campaigning the party lost miserably.
The chief minister is also said to have lamented that the party failed to fair well even after giving a good government and launching innumerable welfare measures for the poor and downtrodden people.
He’s also reported to be upset with some party men who have been gunning him for the poor performance.
However R Ramalingareddy,former Home minister has denied reports that the chief minister wept in the CLP meeting.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti