Kumaraswamy out, Karnataka to head for short spell of President’s rule

Having forced the exit of HD Kumaraswamy from the chief minister’s office, the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership is in two minds about forming the next Karnataka government and is looking at the possibility of bringing the state under a short spell of central rule till there is more clarity about the numbers.

It is on account of this reluctance to form the government that the BJP’s presumptive chief minister BS Yeddyurappa wasn’t getting the green signal from the party’s top leadership that he had hoped for.

“I’m awaiting instructions from Delhi. I can call legislature party meeting any time and go to Raj Bhavan,” the 76-year-old told reporters yesterday after meeting leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fount of the BJP.

This contrasts sharply with Yeddyurappa’s impatience in pushing outgoing chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to face the trust vote over the last week.

The BJP is conscious that it is not seen to be hankering for power. It also wants to play safe and not end up in a position where a hurriedly-formed government is not able to survive the change in the numbers that might follow over the next few weeks.

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There is a strong view, a BJP leader said, that the party should wait for the outcome of the case before the Supreme Court and their resignation letters before Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar.

One of the possibilities that the BJP wants to avoid is a situation where the Congress and the Janata Dal Secular are able to convince some of the 15 rebel lawmakers to withdraw their resignation.

For the record, Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah have both declared that they would never let the rebels rejoin their respective parties. “But what if they change their stance… The Yeddyurappa government would again be in a minority,” a BJP leader said.

The 14-month-old Kumaraswamy government resigned on Tuesday after failing to prove its majority in the floor test following three weeks of power tussle that saw 15 legislators withdrawing their support to the coalition. The Congress-JDS alliance had secured 99 votes in its favour and 105 against on a trust vote motion moved in the 225-member assembly by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy last Thursday.

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