BENGALURU: Dogged, determined and patient, BJP’s CM-in-waiting BS Yeddyurappa finally succeeded, in his seventh attempt, in dislodging the coalition government. The Lingayat strongman is set to be chief minister for the fourth time, and the second time in the past 15 months.
He will stake claim to form the next government on Thursday, and the remaining members of his cabinet will be sworn in after a week.
The Supreme Court adjourning to Wednesday the hearing of the petition filed by the Independent candidates, came as a relief to Yeddyurappa. He saw to it that his flock stayed together and away from the Congress-JDS machinations to ‘reverse poach’ saffron party MLAs.
The BJP has drawn up its list of probable candidates and their seniority, along with caste equations, and will now take the high command’s nod to form the ministry.
Across the state, BJP workers took to the streets after Kumaraswamy lost the confidence vote, to celebrate the return of Yeddyurappa as chief minister. Party insiders want the swearing-in to happen on Thursday itself, as they don’t want opposition parties to take advantage of the cases pending before the Supreme Court, or attempt to instil confidence in the rebel MLAs.
BJP MLAs were taken back to the resort, where BSY was to address them on Tuesday night. A letter claiming the support of 107 MLAs, including two Independents, will be submitted to Governor Vajubhai Vala on Wednesday.
BJP general secretary Muralidhar Rao told TNIE, “Our parliamentary board will meet and decide the next step. We will follow the procedure and won’t rush.’’ He said they will have a legislature party meeting on Wednesday and only then decide who will be elected leader and after that, the party will go to the Governor to stake claim.
BJP leader Arvind Limbavali said BSY will call on Governor on Wednesday. He said there will be not much of a delay in the induction of ministers, and the ministry is likely to be a balanced one.
Sources said it will be a long wait for the coalition rebels to get a place in the ministry as their petitions are pending before the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Congress and JDS have announced that the rebel MLAs will not be ‘reinducted’ into the party, come what may. They have also pressed for disqualification so that they are not inducted into the new government.
The rebels have sought four weeks’ time to appear before the Speaker, and have also questioned the way they were served notice by the Speaker two days ago.
They also raised objections, citing the fact that the Congress had not served them the mandatory notice seeking reply to the petitions, and claimed that they have so far not got copies of the complaints filed by the coalition.
BSY also held a closed-door meeting with legal experts to seek their opinion, and reportedly assured rebels that their interests will be protected.