Yediyurappa sworn in as Karna CM; faces challenge of numbers

Karnataka BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa was as sworn as chief minister for a fourth time on Friday in a sudden twist to the protracted high political drama in the state with a big challenge to manage numbers staring him in the face.

Yediyurappa alone took the oath succeeding H D Kumaraswamy three days after the Congress-JDS coalition government crumbled under the weight of a rebellion by a big chunk of its lawmakers, when it lost the motion of confidence in the state assembly.

Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 76-year old Yediyurappa, credited with leading the BJP to its first ever government in the south in 2008, at a brief function in the Raj Bhavan in the evening.

The Lingayat strongman's move to stake claim for the government formation came as a sudden development on Friday morning, a day after three rebel Congress-JDS MLAs were disqualified by the assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, heightening suspense over a new dispensation being in place.

Speaking about the sudden turn of events on government formation, Yediyurappa told BJP workers before the swearing in that party national president and Home Minister Amit Shah spoke over phone to him in the morning and asked him to prepare for the oath on Friday.

The BJP veteran, who changed the spelling of his name from Yeddyurappa to Yediyurappa with the move becoming public Friday, is making it to mantle of chief ministership 14 months after he demitted the coveted office being unable to prove the majority in the state assembly.

His swearing in came after weeks of murky political drama and legal battle triggered by the resignation of 15 rebel Congress and JDS MLAs that led to the fall of the coalition government on Tuesday.

In 2018, he survived barely for three days before stepping down as chief minister in May as he was unable to shore up numbers to get the majority despite the BJP having emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 assembly polls that threw up a hung verdict, leading to the Congress-JDS rule.

In Delhi, BJP Working President J P Nadda dismissed opposition's claim that his party engineered defections to bring down the coalition government and said it fell due to its internal reasons and asserted the saffron party will provide a stable regime.

On Yediyurappa being over the 75-year age bar the party has stipulated for its leaders holding any government position, Nadda said the Karnataka veteran was the leader of the BJP Legislature Party in the state and was natural for him to be the party's choice for the chief minister's post.

Replying to questions from reporters, he said "It depends... you see, first of all he is a leader, he is an elected leader of the legislature party. Accordingly, he is taking oath. It is a continuous process and the party takes note of ongoing developments from time to time."