Karnataka governor invites BJP's Yeddyurappa to form government in the state

NEW DELHI: After a day of intense speculations, Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala on Wednesday evening invited BJP's BS Yeddyurappa to form government in the state.


In a letter addressed to the BJP leader, the governor granted the saffron party a period of 15 days to prove majority on the floor of the House.

"Yeddyurappa will be taking the oath alone tomorrow and the rest of the cabinet will be sworn-in after proving the majority on the House of the floor," BJP's Murlidhar Rao said.

Following the governor's announcement, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Congress of "blowing up the Constitution to shambles".

"The party that blew up the constitution to shambles is teaching us the constitution, the party that imposed President rule the most number of times is giving us lessons," Prasad said.

Karnataka election live updates

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy termed the governor's decision "unconstitutional" and criticised him for "encouraging" "horse trading".

"By giving 15-day time (to prove majority) governor is encouraging horse-trading by BJP leaders, this is unconstitutional. We will discuss the future plan," he said.


Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said that his party will explore all legal and constitutional options.

"We will use all legal and constitutional rights available to us. Hum janta ki adaalat mein jaayenge (we will approach the people's court)," he said.

The Congress leader also questioned how BJP was able to come to power in Goa and Manipur by forging a post-poll alliance.

"We want to ask Amit Shah ji that if two parties cannot come together in post poll coalition, then how did you form governments in Goa and Manipur by superseding single largest party? Governor has shamed his office," Surjewala said.

In 2017, BJP was able to forge a post-poll alliance with non-Congress parties to keep the latter out of power in Goa and Manipur despite it being the single largest party.

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi slammed the governor for his "partisan decision" and giving "official sanctity" to "horse trading".

"Dear Governor,
History will judge you for this partisan decision and for giving official sanctity to horse trading to get to power. This happens when party loyalty means more than following constitutional norms that comes with the constitutional office you hold," she said in a tweet.


Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah, too, lashed out at the governor for reducing the Raj Bhawan (governor's office) to a "rubber stamp".

"Once more an occupant of a Raj Bhavan allows himself to be used as a rubber stamp. BJP announces (and then deletes) the details of Yeddyurappa swearing in slated for tomorrow before it can be officially communicated," he tweeted.


Shortly before the governor's letter, BJP's Karnataka unit had created a stir when it tweeted details of the oath-taking ceremony. The Twitter handle deleted the tweet and later re-tweeted the same information with a different time of the oath-taking ceremony. The handle clarified that the ceremony will be taking place 30 minutes earlier at 9.00 AM tomorrow.



Select The Times of India as your preferred source on Google Search