Round 1 to CM Yeddyurappa
KARNATAKA Cong, JD(S) launch protest, say he will be ‘oneday chief minister’
BENGALURU: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yeddyurappa took oath as the 23rd chief minister of Karnataka at the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru on Thursday morning, amid massive protests from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) hours after the Supreme Court rejected their joint petition seeking a stay on the ceremony.
This is the third time that BSY, as he is popularly known, has taken over as the chief minister. In 2007, he ruled for seven days before the JD(S), which was the BJP’s coalition partner at the time, disagreed with the government over the sharing of ministries and withdrew support. In 2008, he again took over as the chief minister, but lasted only 39 months before he was arrested on corruption charges.
Wearing a green shawl that symbolises the farmers’ movement, Yeddyurappa took the oath in the name of god and farmers. Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath in the presence of senior state BJP leaders and Union ministers and amid heavy police security.
Yeddyurappa, 75, takes over as the CM after two days of uncertainty since votes were counted on May 15. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the state with 104 seats but fell short of reaching the halfway mark of 112 in the assembly. The Congress and the JD(S) joined hands in the hours that followed, and approached the governor with a request to let them form the next government in the state with HD Kumaraswamy as the CM. They also submitted a letter with the signatures of 116 legislators to Vala.
Yeddyurappa, too, staked claim shortly after. And on Wednesday night, Vala invited Yeddyurappa to form the government in the state, prompting the Congress to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. While the apex court did not dismiss the petition, it permitted Yeddyurappa to take oath as the chief minister. It will hear the Congress’s plea at 10.30am on Friday. Vala has given Yeddyurappa 15 days to prove his majority on the floor of the house. Some analysts fear that the BJP will use this period to convince legislators of the Congress and the JD(S) to abstain from voting.
Addressing a press conference after being sworn in, Yeddyurappa said he would not take 15 days, but would prove his majority soon.
On Wednesday, an apprehensive Congress started drafting its petition against the Karnataka governor in the afternoon, long before Vajubhai Vala invited Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yeddyurappa to form the government.
As the drama heightened in Karnataka and news came that there was little chance the governor would call Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy to form the government, top leaders of the Congress sprang into action to give the final shape to the next step: a legal challenge in the Supreme Court.
Former finance minister P Chidambaram, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, the party’s legal brain Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha and Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala got into a huddle at the Congress office. There, it was decided to file the petition in the following few hours.
“It was our natural outpouring of grievance against what was happening in the southern state. There was a clear arithmetic impossibility in the BJP’s claims, yet politics had taken precedence. We felt that if the petition was filed immediately, the SC would take a different view. Our promptness would show our assertion to uphold what the apex court had said in the Goa case,” said Singhvi.
In that case, last year, the Supreme Court said, “When no political party is in majority, then it is the bounden duty of the Governor to see who can form the government. If nothing happens, then the Governor is duty-bound to call the leader of the single largest party but if someone goes to the Governor with a list of supporters, then it is a different issue altogether.”
Congress leaders kept party president Rahul Gandhi informed throughout this period through messages and phone calls.
Dubbing the governor’s invitation to the BJP to form the government “immoral, illegal and unconstitutional”, the Congress moved the Supreme Court late on Wednesday night, citing both constitutional and judicial precedents. The BJP defended the governor’s decision. It too, cited another set of constitutional conventions and court judgments.
The petitioners, former Congress state president G Parmeshwara and Janata Dal (Secular) leader Kumaraswamy, sought an urgent midnight hearing from the top court.
After their quick meeting, the Congress leaders, except Patel and Singhvi, went on to hold a press conference. Singhvi, who was chosen by the party to appear in this case, went back home but not before asking his associates to seek a hearing. At 9.30 pm, the party received a copy of the invitation extended to Yedduyrappa and then, without wasting any time, the associates filed the petition with the registrar of the court.
The Congress’ legal brains also felt that the court would hear the case in the night itself but could summon the petitioners at a very short notice. They decided that they would assemble somewhere hear the court. So, they all gathered at the coffee shop at the Taj Mahal hotel on Mansingh Road.
The hearing started in the Supreme Court at 2:10am.
“Almost every day I come to the Supreme Court. But at night, it looks so wearily different. And there were so many media people; it was like a soap opera,” recounts Singhvi. The court refused to stay Yeddyurappa’s swearing-in but will hear the case on Friday. KEY APPEAL Senior Congress leaders got into a huddle at party office, setting the stage for an urgent hearing