BJP defeats Congress in Karnataka state election
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party ended Congress party rule in a key southern state, but its poll victory was marred by questions over who has the right to form the government.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s B.S. Yeddyurappa was sworn in as Karnataka state’s top elected official in Bangalore, a key technology hub.
The BJP has been using rising Hindu nationalism in the country to ride to victory at the polls since Modi won elections in 2014.
State Gov Vajubhai Vala invited the BJP to form the government after it emerged as the single largest party in the state legislature following the May 12 poll. It controls 104 seats in the 224-seat state legislature, short of the halfway mark.
The Congress party and the allied regional grouping Janata Dal (United), which together control 117 seats in the newly elected state legislature, maintain that they should be able to form a coalition government and have challenged the gov- ernor’s decision in court.
The Supreme Court said that while it was allowing the swearing-in ceremony of the BJP leader to proceed, it would hear the petition filed by those two parties today.
Rahul Gandhi, the 47-year-old heir to India’s Nehru-Gandhi politi- cal dynasty who took over as Congress party president from his mother in December, said the BJP’s decision to form the government in the state without a clear majority support was a mockery of the country’s constitution.
“While the BJP celebrates its hol- low victory, India will mourn the defeat of democracy,” he tweeted.
The new BJP government has 15 days to gather enough support to survive a vote in the legislature on its leadership. If it can’t, Congress and Janata Dal would get the chance to form the government. — AFP