Yeddyurappa to stake claim to form government in Karnataka after consulting PM Modi, Shah

Former Karnataka chief minister Yeddyurappa made the statement after the 14-month-old Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state failed to win the trust vote on the floor of the Assembly.

BENGALURU: Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday said that he will meet Governor Vajubhai Vala to stake claim to form the government in Karnataka after consulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

"I will discuss with Prime Minister and Amit Shah ji, afterwards I will go and meet the Governor. We are going to have a legislature party meet now," Yeddyurappa told media on Tuesday. 

Yeddyurappa wrote a letter to Shah on Tuesday after Congress-JD(S) government lost trust vote in the assembly. "I extend my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes for support extended by your good self,other leaders of the party and party in general," he wrote in the letter.

Karnataka:BJP's BS Yeddyurappa has written a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah after Congress-JD(S) govt lost trust vote in assembly.Letter reads,"I extend my heartfelt congratulations&best wishes for support extended by your good self,other leaders of the party&party in general" pic.twitter.com/SIjx8y72EH — ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2019

The former Karnataka chief minister made the statement after the 14-month-old Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state failed to win the trust vote on the floor of the Assembly on Tuesday. The defeat in trust vote forced incumbent Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to resign. Minutes after the defeat, Kumaraswamy met Governor Vajubhai Vala to submit his resignation. The Governor accepted the resignation but requested him to continue as a caretaker Chief Minister till a new government takes oath.

Meanwhile, Congress has slammed BJP for carrying out "one of the most heinous" horse-trading the country has ever seen. The grand old party said that it will hold protest across the nation against BJP's immoral politics of destabilisation.

Congress general secretary in-charge Karnataka K C Venugopal said the Congress-JDS coalition government in the state was toppled by the "nefarious" joint efforts of the central government, governor, Maharashtra government and senior BJP leaders.

"BJP facilitated this dirty-dealing political drama by offering a huge amount of black money and ministerial berths to the defected MLAs. Along with this, the BJP also misused central agencies like enforcement and Income Tax for blackmailing and horse-trading," Venugopal said in a series of tweets.

Venugopal said that political morality and democratic values got defeated in Karnataka due to the "unscrupulous political horse-trading" of the BJP. "The sabotage of a duly-elected government in Karnataka carried out by the BJP is one of the most heinous and subversive instances of blatant political horse-tradings the country has ever witnessed," he said.

Out of the 225 MLAs in Karnataka Assembly, 20 abstained from the floor test, reducing the House strength to 205. The halfway mark for simple majority was reduced to 103. The confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy got 99 votes as against 105 of the opposition leading to its defeat