Karnataka BJP stalwart B.S. Yediyurappa (till recently Yeddyurappa) has been sworn in as Chief Minister for a fourth time in a sudden twist to the protracted high political drama in the State with a big challenge to manage numbers staring him in the face.
Mr. Yediyurappa alone took the oath succeeding H.D. Kumaraswamy three days after the Congress-JD(S) coalition government crumbled under the weight of a rebellion by a big chunk of its lawmakers, when it lost the motion of confidence in the State Assembly.
Mr. Yediyurappa takes over a day after Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar disqualified three rebel MLAs .
Here are the updates:
Yediyurappa to seek trust vote on July 29
Mr. Yediyurappa addresses the media now.
He says he would forget and forgive and won't do politics of vendetta and starts the press conference by paying homage to soldiers killed in Kargil war
“My first priority is to respond to the problems faced by farmers, weavers, fishermen and agriculture labourers,” he says.
“The Cabinet has decided that two installments of ₹2000 will be given to all beneficiaries of PM Kisan Yojana on behalf of the State government.
“The Cabinet has also decided to waive loans of weavers as on March 31, 2019. This will cost about ₹100 crore,” he says.
He announces that he has decided to convene the Assembly session on July 29 at 10 a.m. to seek trust vote. He also says the government after winning the trust vote would get the Finance Bill passed the same day.
Nadda plays down Yeddyurappa age factor
BJP working president J.P. Nadda has played down the fact that Mr. Yediyurappa was above the 75-year age bar the party has stipulated for its leaders holding any government position.
“Mr. Yediyurappa was the leader of the BJP legislature party in the State and it was natural for him to be the party's choice for the Chief Minister’s post,” he said.
“You see, first of all he is a leader, he is an elected leader of the legislature party. Accordingly, he is taking oath. It is a continuous process and the party takes note of ongoing developments from time to time,” he stated.
The BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah, had introduced the 75 years limit for ministers in the party-run governments as well as for its candidates in the recent Lok Sabha election to ease out many veterans, including L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Sumitra Mahajan among others.
Yediyurappa takes oath
Mr. Yediyurappa has taken oath as Karnataka Chief Minister. This will be his fourth stint. None of his previous lasted the full term.
The ceremony is over now after Mr. Yediyurappa took oath in the name of god. None of the Congress and JD(S) leaders including former CMs Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy attended the ceremony, despite a personal invitation by Mr. Yediyurappa. However, two disgruntled Congress leaders — Roshan Baig and former MLA K.N. Rajanna — are seen at the event.
Incomplete terms
In 2007, Mr. Yediyurappa had to resign as Chief Minister after just eight days. It was then he changed his name's spelling to Yeddyurappa. His next shot at the post was his longest. He was CM from from May 30 2008 to July 31, 2011 and he resigned over corruption charges. He quit the BJP and launched the Karnataka Janata Paksha 2012, only to return to the party in 2014 and contest the Lok Sabha elections that year in Lotus symbol. He was declared the party's CM candidate in 2016.
B.S. Yeddyurappa arrives at Raj Bhavan clad in green shawl, signifying farmers, ahead of the oath-taking ceremony, Bengaluru, July 26, 2019
Department heads asked to put Kumaraswamy govt orders on hold
BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa displays the letter by Governor Vajubhai Vala asking him to form government, in Bengaluru on Friday.
Mr. Yediyurappa (till recently Yeddyurappa) has instructed heads of all departments to put on hold orders relating to new projects that were issued in the current month by the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led regime until further review.
He has also put on hold all transfers that were cleared, but have not been executed.
In a letter to all Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and secretaries of various departments, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar said the CM-designate has directed that orders issued in July 2019 clearing new projects should be put on hold with immediate effect until further review.
He said the CM-designate has also instructed that proposals of transfers that were cleared in July, but have not been executed should be put on hold until further orders.
During the debate on the trust vote in the Assembly, the BJP had accused the Congress-JD(S) coalition and the outgoing Chief Minister of clearing projects and transfer of officials, despite having lost majority.
Back to Yediyurappa
Mr. Yeddyurappa has reverted to the earlier English spelling of his name Yediyurappa, apparently influenced by numerology.
BJP MLAs at the swearing-in ceremony of B.S. Yeddyurappa at the Raj Bhavan Glass House in Bengaluru on July 26, 2019.
The change became public today in his letter to Governor Vajubhai Vala, staking claim to form the government, and later, in the official invitation for the swearing-in ceremony of the BJP leader as Karnataka Chief Minister.
He had changed the spelling of his name from Yediyurappa to Yeddyurappa after he had to resign as Chief Minister in 2007. He had to quit barely a week after becoming the CM as the then coalition partner JD(S) reneged on its promise to share power for 20 months each.
However, it seems to have failed to bring him any luck as the two subsequent terms as Chief Minister did not last long.
Will Yeddyurappa be fourth time lucky?
This will be the fourth time Mr. Yeddyurappa will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. His last stint lasted just three days in May 2018. He had to resign since he could muster the support of adequate MLAs to win the floor test.
Mr. Yeddyurappa was the Chief Minister for three years between 2008 and 2011. He had to quit after facing corruption charges.
His first stint as Chief Minister lasted just seven days. In 2007, the first-ever BJP government in southern India collapsed after the JD(S) withdrew its support.
State Congress chief calls for boycott of Yeddyurappa's swearing in
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao has asked his party leaders to boycott the swearing in ceremony of Mr. Yeddyurappa.
Calling it "unconstitutional & unethical based on horse trading and corrupt methods," Mr. Rao, added "I refuse to participate in this unholy event and instruct all @INCKarnataka leaders not to attend."
Congress hits out at Yeddyurappa
“Corruption Icon and Former Jail Bird Shri@ BSYBJP has used his excellent Horse Trading skills to subvert democracy and come to power,” the state Congress has tweet.
“People of Karnataka remember his disastrous tenure as CM between 2008-11, which ended with BSY in Jail,” it said.
Former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah said Karnataka has become “an experimental lab of the BJP.”
Mr. Siddaramaiah said in his tweet, “Karnataka assembly has become an experimental lab for Karnataka BJP and the BJP backed governor to try unconstitutional ways to form government. In what article of the constitution is the governor allowed to permit the party to form govt that doesn’t have majority? It is shame!!”, he said.
He said the BJP has a strength of 105 which is way less than the half way mark.
“In no way BJP can form the government if constitution is followed,” he said adding, this only proved that BJP has no belief in the democratic values.
In another message tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party national president Amit Shah, the Congress said, “Parliamentary democracy is being butchered in Karnataka. How can Yeddyurappa stake claim to form government when they don’t have the numbers? How can the Governor who is the safe keeper of the constitution give his consent ? Where is the Rule of LAW!”
JD(S) calls BJP "horse trader party"
Dubbing the BJP as horse trading party, the JD(S) wonders how Mr. Yeddyurappa has sought to form the government without adequate numbers.
"Today marks one of the darkest days in the history of Karnataka. Democracy is dying a slow death because of BJP's unconstitutional practices," the party's handle has tweeted.
SC keeps plea pending in corruption case involving Yeddyurappa
Hours before BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa is scheduled to take oath as Karnataka Chief Minister, the Supreme Court on Friday decided to keep pending a plea to hear on merits a corruption and land grab case that cuts across the State’s political spectrum, involving him and rival D.K. Shivakumar, a former Congress Minister.
“We are not influenced by any names or by anybody,” Justice Arun Mishra, leading the Bench also comprising Justice M.R. Shah, stated.
The comment from the judge came after advocate Prashant Bhushan, who is representing NGO Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, which is intervening in the case, introduced Mr. Yeddyurappa as the “next likely Chief Minister” of the State.
B S Yeddyurappa comes out of Raj Bhavan after meeting the Governor. He announces that he will be taking oath as Chief Minister between 6:00 pm and 6:15 pm on Friday.
Displaying the letter by Governor Vajubhai Vala inviting him to form the government, Mr. Yeddyurappa says he will now consult the party high command over who will take oath as ministers along with him.
He says he is inviting all MLAs, especially outgoing chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and CLP leader Siddaramaiah for the swearing in. "I will call all important leaders personally and even write a letter inviting them for the swearing in," he adds.
Yeddyurappa meets Governor
B.S. Yeddyurappa in Bengaluru | File
In a surprise move, BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa told media persons outside his residence that he was going to meet Governor Vajubhai Vala at 10:00 a.m and request him to give him oath as Chief Minister today itself.
"Since I am already Leader of Opposition, there is no need of a legislature party meeting to elect me as the leader," he said.
Mr. Yeddyurappa, for the last couple of days, had been waiting for “instructions” from the party high command to stake claim to form the government after the Congress-JD(S) coalition government had collapsed after the floor test on Tuesday.
A group of Karnataka BJP leaders, including Jagdish Shettar, Arvind Limbavali, J C Madhuswamy, Basavaraj Bommai and Yeddyurappa’s son Vijayendra Thursday had met party chief Amit Shah in New Delhi and reportedly discussed the government formation.
What will happen to the Finance Bill?
The chances of the passage of the Finance Bill before the end of month seems to be bleak given the current political atmosphere.
The vote on account providing government to spend routine expenditure through an appropriation Bill is only till July 31, and without the passage of the Finance Bill, the State government will come to a standstill — an unprecedented situation for the State.
In case the State Assembly fails to meet within the time frame, the Parliament can pass it after suspending the State legislature. “I do not know what the Union government wants to do. It could be suspension of Assembly or President’s rule,” Speaker K.R.Ramesh Kumar told presspersons on Thursday.
Karnataka political crisis: How it took root and grew
Karnataka politics is once again on the boil with the coalition experiment, comprising the Congress and the JD(S), losing power once again, for the second time in in two decades.
In case the BJP comes to power here, then it will be for the first time that the saffron party rules both at the Centre and in Karnataka.
It was exactly 14 months ago (May 23, 2018), leaders of opposition parties from across the country huddled together on a platform in front of the Vidhana Soudha, in a show of solidarity, to mark the swearing-in of the new coalition government. H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) and G. Parameshwara of the Congress was sworn in as the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, respectively.
