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Three days after the Karnataka coalition government lost trust vote in the state Assembly, state BJP president BS Yediyurappa was sworn-in as the Chief Minister for the fourth time. He is the only person to be sworn in as chief minister for the fourth time in the history of Karnataka. Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office at the Raj Bhavan.
“I thank people of the state who gave me the opportunity to be the Chief Minister. My Chief Minister’s post is the respect to the people of the state,” the 76-year-old leader told reporters after the ceremony, news agency ANI reported.
Adding that he will discuss the formation of state cabinet with party president Amit Shah and other party leaders at the Centre, Yediyurappa said he might travel to Delhi tomorrow and later take a decision. “I will discuss with Amit Shah ji & other leaders. If necessary, I will go to Delhi tomorrow, we will take the decision afterwards,” ANI quoted Yediyurappa as saying.
He also said he would move the motion of confidence in the state assembly on Monday, July 29. “The Karnataka assembly session will be called on July 29, Monday at 10 AM for moving confidence motion and for the passage of the finance bill,” Yediyurappa told reporters.
Soon after Yediyurappa took oath as the 25th chief minister of the state, Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated him on Twitter.
Read | Explained: Why Yediyurappa’s new government is also not on safe ground
“Congrats to @BSYBJP ji, newly sworn in CM of Karnataka. I am sure under his leadership and under the guidance of PM Modi, BJP will give a stable, pro-farmer and development-oriented govt in the State. I assure people of Karnataka that BJP is committed to fulfil their aspirations,” Shah tweeted.
Karnataka govt formation | Follow LIVE updates
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Congress in a press conference questioned Governor Vajubhai Vala on how BJP was given a chance to form the government without a majority.
“BJP has the strength of 105 which is way less than the halfway mark. In no way, BJP can form the Karnataka govt if the Constitution is followed,” former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged.
The coalition government of Congress and JD(S) collapsed on Tuesday when former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy lost the no-confidence motion by 99-105 votes and tendered his resignation.
Read | Karnataka: Speaker disqualifies 3 Congress rebels
However, Yediyurappa did not stake claim immediately. The party initially indicated it would not rush to stake claim to government formation, but as the day wore on, the party drew up plans to approach Raj Bhavan either Thursday or Friday to press its claim.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Karnataka Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar disqualified three MLAs till the end of the term of current House in 2023 under the anti-defection law, adding that he would take a call on the remaining resignations in a “couple of days”.
See pics | BS Yediyurappa takes oath as Karnataka Chief Minister
The trust vote was necessitated after 15 MLAs resigned, plunging the 14-month-old government to a minority. The rebel leaders were adamant on their resignation since July 1.
It is to be noted that in 2018, Yediyurappa survived barely for three days before stepping down as chief minister in May as he was unable to shore up numbers to get the majority despite the BJP having emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 assembly polls that threw up a hung verdict, leading to the Congress-JDS rule.
Back in November 2007, Yediyurappa became the chief minister for the very first time but his tenure lasted only seven days as Kumaraswamy withdrew from a power-sharing arrangement and eventually walked out of the JDS-BJP alliance then. Subsequently, he took charge of the high office the corresponding year after the BJP came to power on its own. But it had to step down in July 2011 following the Lingayat leader’s indictment by the then Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde in an illegal mining case.
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