JDS leader Kumaraswamy to take oath alone on May 23: Sources

The BJP emerged as the single-largest party (104 seats) in Karnataka when results were declared on May 15, but fell short of a majority.

Bengaluru: JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy will take oath alone on May 23, 2018, as per Zee Media sources. Also, the lone MLA of Mayawati's BSP will be part of the state Cabinet. 

Kumaraswamy met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Rahul in the national capital on Monday.

UPA Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Congress President @RahulGandhi met with Karnataka CM-designate Shri @hd_kumaraswamy in New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/91kYi8w676 — Congress (@INCIndia) May 21, 2018

I had a warm and cordial meeting this evening, in Delhi, with Shri H D Kumaraswamy ji. We discussed the political situation in Karnataka and other matters of mutual interest. I will be attending his swearing in as CM of Karnataka, on Wednesday, in Bengaluru. pic.twitter.com/sZAwX8mQut

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 21, 2018

The JD(S) fought the May 12 Assembly elections in alliance with the BSP and joined hands with the Congress after a fractured verdict on May 15. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, while the Congress was next with 78 and the JD(S) followed with 37. The BSP has one MLA and two seats went to Independents. The newly-formed alliance has claimed support of 117 MLAs in the 224-member House with an effective strength of 221.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy has already indicated that there won't be a rotational arrangement with the Congress for the post of the CM. "No such talks have taken place," he had told reporters on Sunday. There were reports in a section of the media about both parties heading the government for 30 months each on rotation, similar to the 20:20 months power-sharing agreement in 2006 with the BJP. 

The three-day-old BJP government in Karnataka had collapsed on Saturday, minutes before the scheduled trust vote, with CM BS Yeddyurappa resigning with defeat staring him in the face. It was his shortest stint in power. Yeddyurappa became the CM for the first time for seven days in 2007. He became the CM for the second time when the BJP formed its first government in Karnataka in 2008. Yeddyurappa was at the helm of the state for over three years before he was made to quit following indictment by the Lokayukta in an alleged mining scam.

Hours later, Kumaraswamy, the chief ministerial candidate of JD(S)-Congress-BSP alliance, met Governor Vajubhai Vala and had said that he had been invited to form the government. However, later in the evening, he had said that the swearing-in would be held on May 23 as May 21 happens to be the death anniversary of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and therefore it would not be appropriate to hold the ceremony on that date. Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, in 1991.

The 58-year-old leader, son of JD(S) supremo and former PM HD Deve Gowda, had added that the Governor had given him 15 days to prove his majority, but had asserted "we don't need 15 days". 

(With PTI inputs)