Yeddyurappa to visit National Military Memorial ahead of swearing-in

Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa on Friday will pay tributes at the National Military Memorial here ahead of taking oath as the 25th Chief Minister of the state.

"On this day 20 years ago, Indian armed forces defeated Pakistan in 1999 in the Kargil war. As a mark of respect to all soldiers who fought this great war, I have come here to pay my tribute to our armed forces before taking oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka," Yeddyurappa told reporters before visiting the memorial.

Earlier in the day, Yeddyurappa met Governor Vajubhai Vala to stake claim to form the government in the state, three days after the 14-month old Congress-JD (S) coalition government fell after losing the trust vote in the Assembly.

He will take oath today at 6 pm.

On Thursday, Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified three rebel Congress MLAs under the defection law for anti-party activities. Those disqualified were R Shankar, Ramesh Jharkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli.

Kumar said that he needed more time to take a decision on the disqualification of other MLAs against whom complaints were filed.

With the disqualification of three MLAs, the strength of the house is reduced to 221 and the halfway mark is 112.

In his letter to the Governor, Yeddyurappa stated that the strength of the BJP MLA is 105.