Karnataka: Kumaraswamy Says Guv Invited Congress-JD(S) To Form Govt

JD(S)'s HD Kumaraswamy said the governor has invited the Congress-JD(S) alliance to form government in Karnataka, after CM Yeddyurappa submitted his resignation without facing a floor test today. Yeddyurappa resigned after he wasn't able to establish his majority.

Kumaraswamy reached Raj Bhavan to meet Governer Vajubhai Vala, to stake claim for forming government. He is expected to take oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on Monday. 

The floor test was to be conducted on the instructions of the Governor of Karnataka, Vajubhai R Vala after the Congress-JD (S) alliance also claimed the right to form the government in the state on the basis of the 117 seats it had as compared to the 104 seats that the BJP had.

Main Points

• Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not only abetting the corruption, but is corruption himself. 

Addressing the media, Gandhi said: "You have seen openly how the PM directly authorised purchasing of MLAs in Karnataka, so the idea that PM spreads in the country that he is fighting corruption, is a blatant lie, he is corruption."

He said that this is a lesson to the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah that the Indian institutions are bigger.

• Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa has resigned, minutes before the Floor Test. He will not face the confidence vote.

Yeddyurappa had moved the motion seeking a vote of confidence of the Karnataka Assembly in his government. 

"I will lose nothing if I lose power, my life is for the people," he said.  Full story here. 

"People have blessed us with 104 seats. The mandate wasn't for Congress or JD(S). I have traveled throughout the state for the last two years and have seen pain on the faces of people. I can't forget the love & affection I received from people," he said in an emotional speech. 

• Congress MLAs Anand Singh and Pratap Gowda Patil, who were said to be missing, have taken an oath as MLAs in Karnataka's Vidhana Soudha, ahead of the floor test.

The two lawmakers were earlier located at a Bengaluru hotel with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA G. Somasekhar Reddy, according to sources. Earlier on Saturday, the two MLAs - Anand Singh and Pratap Gowda Patil - did not appear in the state assembly to administer the oath.

The Congress and JD(S) are confident the MLAs will not deflect.

• The Supreme Court today ordered live telecast of the crucial floor test in the Karnataka Assembly to ensure "transparency" in the trust vote in which Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will have to prove his majority in the House.

 Full story-  SC Allows K.G Bopiah To Be The Interim Speaker, Orders Live Telecase Of Floor Test In Karnataka Assembly

• Congress Releases Audio Tape, Accuses BS Yeddyurappa Of Trying To Poach Its MLAs

Politics over control of Karnataka got murkier on Saturday, with the Congress releasing an audio tape where chief minister BS Yeddyurappa is purportedly heard trying to lure an MLA with the promise of a ministerial berth if he backed the BJP government during the trust vote. Full story here.

• On Friday, Vala appointed Bopaiah as pro-tem speaker ahead of floor test in the state assembly, breaking the convention of appointing the senior-most legislator.

 (Inputs from Agencies)