Bengaluru: Governor of Karnataka on Wednesday invited BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa to take oath as chief minister of the state at 9:30 am at Raj Bhavan on Thursday.
The official announcement came just a short while after the Congress herded 79 MLAs (as per Dinesh Gundu Rao) into a bus and sent them on their way to the same Eagleton Resort on Bengaluru’s outskirts where the party’s Gujarat MLAs had been sent during the matter of the election of Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha in 2017.
The Governor’s decision comes as a massive blow to the Congress-JD(S) alliance which has claimed to have 117 MLAs (a majority) and has alleged that the BJP has attempted to bribe its lawmakers with enormous sums of money (Kumaraswamy said Rs 100 crore) and cabinet berths.
Earlier on Wednesday Janata Dal (Secular) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of poaching its MLAs, by offering them Rs 100 crore and a cabinet rank, to stake claim to form the government. While Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said “stealing of MLAs shouldn’t be allowed. No governor can go against Constitution. At this juncture, we’ve complete faith in governor that he’ll go by Constitution and not party politics.”
Here are the events that led to this poaching accusation.
1. Results of the assembly elections held for 222 seats, held on May 12, showed a hung assembly, as none of the political parties got a clear majority. The votes were counted on Tuesday.
2. A party that can show the support of 112 MLAs in the 224 seat in the Vidhan Souda gets a simple majority. BJP has won 104 seats, Congress trails behind with 77 seats and the JD (S) has 37 seats.
3. As the single largest party, the BJP went to the governor on Tuesday and Wednesday, and staked claim to form the government. BJP leader Yeddyurappa said the party asked for time to show the required strength.
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4. The Congress, whose tally fell from 122 in the last elections to 77, was quick to reach out to the JD(S) and offer the party unconditional support.
5 As the threat of the Congress-JD(S) combine became real three BJP ministers – Prakash Javedekar, Dharmendra Pradhan and JP Nadda – flew from Delhi to Bengaluru late Tuesday night.
6 All eyes were then fixed on the governor Vajubhai R Vala. Traditionally, the governor invites the single largest party or a pre-poll alliance of parties to form the government. However, there are many exception to this rule, the most recent being Goa and Manipur assembly election when the largest single party was overlooked by the governor in favour of a post poll alliance having majority seats.
7. On Wednesday morning BJP’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa met the governor and gave him a letter to stake claim to the government. The Congress-JD(S) are likely to meet the governor later in the day.
8 JD(S) leader and former chief minister of Karnataka, HD Kumaraswamy accused the BJP of offering MLAs of his party Rs 100 crore each and a cabinet seat in return for their support to the saffron party on the floor of the house to prove majority. Later, the Congress also made a similar claim.
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9 In a strong statement Kumaraswamy said that his decision to form an alliance with the government is due to “a black spot on my father’s career because of my decision to go with the BJP in 2004 and 2005. So God has given me opportunity to remove this black spot. So I am going with Congress,” he said.
10 The BJP was quick to deny the poaching claim by JD(S). Prakash Javadekar, BJP’s Karnataka in-charge said “they are leveling baseless charges against BJP. Poaching and horse trading is not done by BJP, Congress is famous for it. Their own MLAs are not happy with their alliance”.
As the events unfold and all three parties evaluate their options including approaching the Supreme Court, the Battle for Karnataka is far from over.