BENGALURU: The BJP, which was in a tearing hurry to unseat the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka, doesn't seem to share the same sense of urgency to stake claim to form the government.
While the state unit, led by BS Yeddyurappa, is raring to go to Governor Vajubhai Vala, National President Amit Shah seems to have instructed him to hold his horses. After a Parliamentary Board meeting, likely to be held on Thursday, two observers will visit Karnataka to take stock of the situation.
The party hopes to hold a legislative party meeting on Friday, that will elect a BJPLP leader.
After staking claim to form the government on Friday, the party hopes to prove its majority at a special session on Monday. With a lot riding on the passage of the Finance Bill, the newly formed government is likely to push the bill on the very day it proves its majority.
Given the numbers currently stacked in its favour, proving its majority as well as passing the Finance Bill could be a cakewalk for the BJP, but its position as a minority government and questions of prolonged stability are weighing on the party.
BJP MLAs, who were taken back to the resort after Tuesday's trust vote, were to take part in a legislative party meeting on Wednesday morning to choose a legislative party chief. None of it happened. Instead, MLAs were allowed to vacate the resort.
Till late Wednesday evening, MLAs had received no communication on a legislative party meeting. While Yeddyurappa, who held a series of meetings on Wednesday with party leaders, is in a hurry to become chief minister, the central leadership wants to allow no scope for mistakes.
"The petition filed by coalition MLAs is pending before the Supreme Court. Their resignations, as well as disqualification petitions, are pending before the Speaker. The outcome of this situation needs to be taken into account. Rushing into forming a government is not healthy," said a BJP source in the know of the party's grand plans. The central leadership, fully aware that it is in complete control of the state unit and its decisions, wants to wait and watch.
"If the MLAs' resignations are not accepted and neither are they disqualified, the House strength remains 224, which means the simple majority stands at 113. Irrespective of whether we defeated the coalition government or not, ours will still be a minority government," said a state-level office-bearer of the BJP.
Despite the resignations, the Congress-JDS coalition's numbers still standing at 100 come as a concern for the saffron party. With the numbers stacked up precariously, any hasty move, the party believes, will backfire especially when it does not want a repeat of May 2018 when Yeddyurappa was forced to resign within two days of taking oath as chief minister.
The party hopes that by the end of this week, a decision by either the Speaker or the Supreme Court will help chart a clearer course on what it can do next.