Oppn out BJPs Yeddyurappa
CM quits before the floor test; HD Kumaraswamy’s swearingin on Wednesday
BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa resigned on Saturday without facing a potentially cliffhanger trust vote on the floor of the Karnataka assembly in the biggest political setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in four years and a rare success for the Congress.
The stage is now set for a Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress government headed by HD Kumaraswamy to be sworn in. Kumaraswamy met the governor on Saturday evening and will take the oath of office on Wednesday in a ceremony expected to be attended by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leaders of several national parties including Trinamool Congress’s Mamata Banerjee, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mayawati, the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s K Chandrashekar Rao.
“I’m resigning as chief minister. I’m grateful to the speaker for giving me this opportunity,” Yeddyurappa said in a speech in the assembly, effectively conceding that the 55-hour-old, one-man government he formed would face certain defeat if the motion of confidence was put to vote.
The BJP won 104 seats in the May 12 assembly elections and the rival Congress-JD(S) combine, an alliance formed after the polls, got 115 seats in a house with an effective strength of 222. JD (S) ally Bahujan Samaj Party, a local party and an independent shared the remaining three seats.
Yeddyurappa’s hopes of winning the trust vote, set for 4pm, depended on cross-voting by members of the legislative assembly. His resignation before the motion of confidence was put to vote effectively meant the BJP’s efforts to woo rival party legislators had failed.
“I hope the BJP and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) learn their lesson that not all institutions of this country can be subverted,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi said soon after Yeddyurappa’s resignation.
“My message to the PM (Narendra) Modi is that the Prime Minister is not bigger than the people of India, than the Supreme Court or the members of Parliament.”
It’s the first time since it came to power in May 2014 that the BJP has been outmanoeuvred at its own game by the Congress, which moved with alacrity to stitch up an alliance with the JD(S) and offered the chief minister’s post to Kumaraswamy.