Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday staked claim to form the government in Karnataka with the Congresss’ help after Bharatiya Janata Party leader BS Yeddyurappa resigned as chief minister ahead of a floor test at 4 pm. Kumaraswamy will take oath between 12 pm and 1 pm on Monday at Bengaluru’s Kanteerava stadium.
On Wednesday, Governor Vajubhai Vala invited the BJP, which won more seats than any other party, to form the government, although the Congress and the JD(S) had more seats. The two parties, along with the Bahujan Samaj Party and two independents, have the support of 117 MLAs, while the BJP has the support of 105 MLAs.
The Congress and the JD(S) to move the Supreme Court against Vala’s decision. The top court then asked Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in the Assembly.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court rejected the Congress’ plea against Karnataka pro-tem speaker. A pro-tem speaker is one chosen by the members of the Lok Sabha and legislative Assembly until a permanent speaker is chosen. Traditionally, such a speaker is the longest serving member of the Assembly. However, in this case, three-time MLA KG Bopaiah was chosen.
8.33 pm: Kumaraswamy may keep the finance portfolio, while his likely deputy, G Parameshwara of the Congress, may become home minister, reports Hindustan Times. JD(S) leader H Vishwanath may become the education minister.
8.01 pm: BS Yeddyurapa says power has never influenced my determination to stand up for a cause. “Irrespective of that, I shall continue to fight for the betterment of the farmers and my people of Karnataka,” he reiterates.
7.50 pm: Kumaraswamy thanks Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot and Siddaramaiah, and BSP leader Mayawati for supporting him. “I want to congratulate the judiciary for saving the democracy,” says the chief minister-elect.
7.47 pm: BSP leader Mayawati, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will attend the oath-taking ceremony on Monday, the JD(S) leader tells reporters. The ceremony will take place at Kanteerava stadium between 12 pm and 1 pm.
7.45 pm: HD Kumaraswamy says the governor has invited the JD(S)-Congress alliance to form the government in Karnataka, reports NDTV. The two parties will meet in Bengaluru on Sunday.
7.25 pm: JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy reaches Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Vajubhai Vala and stake claim to form the government, reports ANI.
7.10 pm: “Once again the BJP has got big lesson in Karnataka,” the NCP tweets. “The BJP, which is crushing principles of democracy has been taught a good lesson due to the coming together of JD(S) and Congress.”
7.01 pm: Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar blames Governor Vajubhai Vala for the Karnataka imbroglio. “I was not expecting the BJP will go to any extent for power, I was wrong,” Pawar tells News 18. “If the governor has any sense, he must resign. I congratulate the MLAs of the Congress and the JD(S).”
6.57 pm: “Congress should not be too happy, it has gone against the mandate,” Minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi tells News 18. “It is a loss for Karnataka.”
6.42 pm: Congress state president G Parameshwara may become deputy chief minister, reports News 18. Congress leader DK Shivakumar may either succeed Parameshwara or get an important ministry in the new government.
6.34 pm: “In the end, India’s voice and democratic spirit will always triumph over tyranny,” tweets Rahul Gandhi.
6.28 pm: Javadekar takes on Congress President Rahul Gandhi. “Rahul Gandhi’s claims that Congress defeated BJP is laughable,” ANI quotes him as saying. He claims that the BJP fought the elections with fewer resources than the Congress, and is happy with its performance.
6.24 pm: “By resigning, BS Yeddyurappa has shown grace, and endured democratic process is followed,” says Javadekar.
6.23 pm: Union minister Prakash Javadekar accuses the Congress of forming an alliance with the JD(S) out of vengeance and enmity, News 18 reports. “Congress celebrates its defeat as victory,” he adds. “This is the problem of Congress. This alliance of Congress and JD(S) is negative. This is will never succeed.”
6.19 pm: Patidar leader Hardik Patel calls for Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s resignation. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says the BJP has failed to subvert democracy in Karnataka. “BJP’s lust for power through foul means stands completely exposed. Will BJP learn any lesson now?” Kejriwal tweets. “India’s judiciary has risen to the occasion and has safeguarded our democracy.”
6.11 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy has invited her for the oath-taking ceremony on Monday.
6.04 pm: Stalin warns the BJP against “propping up an illegitimate government in Tamil Nadu”, says the events in Karnataka have exposed the party.
6.01 pm: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister accuses Narendra Modi and Amit Shah of expressing contempt for democracy, reports ANI. “What message did they give by encouraging the corrupt?” he asks. “BJP brought back Janardhan Reddy to the forefront and did politics.”
5.58 pm: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Working President MK Stalin congratulates the JD(S) and the Congress. “Democracy in Karnataka has been saved by the actions of the Supreme Court,” he says. “May this herald the coming together of secular parties for the upcoming elections.”
5.56 pm: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav reacts to Yeddyurappa’s resignation, says people who think everyone can be bought should realise there are politicians who do not see politics as a means of earning money. “The Centre should take moral responsibility and resign,” he adds.
5.49 pm: Yeddyurappa submits his resignation letter to Governor Vajubhai Vala.
5.28 pm: “This is a big blow for the BJP, and I think what they had been planning all along for 2019 has failed, they will now have to rethink and alter their strategies,” Mayawati tells ANI.
5.26 pm: Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati accuses BJP President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of attempting to grab every institution in the country “by misusing the central and government machinery,” reports NDTV.
5.20 pm: Shiv Sena demands Governor Vajubhai Vala’s resignation. “What he did was completely unconstitutional,” the party’s spokesperson Manisha Kayande tells News 18. “Today’s BJP fiasco is an utter embarrassment.”
5.17 pm: “Yedurappa resigns...one small step for Karnataka, a giant step for India,” says Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien.
5.15 pm: Sitaram Yechury calls for Governor Vajubhai Vala’s resignation. “The Union ministers sitting in Bangalore, facilitating and enabling corrupt deals, are equally culpable,” the CPI(M) leader adds.
5.10 pm: Union minister Ananth Kumar reacts to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi authorised the bribing of MLAs in Karnataka. “What is he saying about PM Modi?” asks Kumar. “This is the prime minister who has provided a scam less govt. If he makes such an allegation, the people will say he has lost his mind.”
5.04 pm: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu says all those who believe in democracy are happy with the developments in Karnataka, ANI reports.
5.01 pm: “You have seen openly how the PM directly authorised the bribing of MLAs in Karnataka,” says Rahul Gandhi. “So the prime minister’s claim that he is fighting corruption is a blatant lie.”
4.59 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should understand that he is not bigger than the people of the country and its institutions, says Gandhi.
4.57 pm: The Congress president says he is proud that the Opposition stood together and defeated the BJP. He thanks JD(S) leaders HD Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy, and the people of Karnataka.
4.55 pm: “Did you notice that after the entire exercise in Karnataka Vidhan Sabha, the BJP legislators and speaker chose to leave the House before the national anthem?” asks Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in New Delhi. “It shows they can disrespect any institution if in power, both BJP & RSS have disrespected institutions.”
4.52 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hails it as a victory of democracy and the “regional front”.
4.50 pm: “The corrupt and criminal designs of the BJP have been defeated,” says CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. “This shows the governor’s decision to invite the BJP to form a government was mala fide and against his constitutional mandate.”
4.46 pm: Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala says BJP has failed in its mission to “hijack Karnataka Assembly”. He hails it as the victory of people power over “muscle power”.
4.40 pm: HD Kumaraswamy says BS Yeddyurappa was trying to achieve people’s sympathy through his speech, reports News 18. He tells reporters that he is waiting for an invitation from the governor’s house.
4.36 pm: “With the proceedings live and every citizen becoming a pro tem speaker, democracy in Karnataka was saved – for the time bring,” tweets former Union Minister of Finance P Chidambaram. “Poor Mr Yeddyurappa. When the puppeteers fail, the puppet falls and break.”
4.23 pm: BS Yeddyurappa reaches Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation to Governor Vajubhai Vala.
4.05 pm: Yeddyurappa announces he is resigning as chief minister.
4.04 pm: Yeddyurappa addresses Kumaraswamy, says he will fight for the people of the state till the end of his life “with or without power”.
4.03 pm: The BJP leader says he is hopeful that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections the BJP would win all 28 parliamentary seats in the state.
4.01 pm: Yeddyurappa calls today’s floor test a trial by fire. “My entire life seems like an trial by fire actually. If the people had given us 113 , the entire state’s condition could have improved.”
4 pm: Yeddyurappa praises Narendra Modi, says the prime minister financially helped the state even though the Congress was in power “My dream is to have Yeddyurappa’s government here in the state and make it a model state, just like modi has created in the Centre.”
3.58 pm: “Loan waivers have to be implemented, irrigation facilities have to be improved, and all sections of our society the backward classes, the poorest, have to live securely and with respect,” says the BJP leader.
3.55 pm: “What is upsetting is the state of the farmer, the labourers in this state,” says the BJP leader. “We need justice for farmers. I would like to give the people of this state the confidence that until the end of his life, a farmer needs to live with respect. That is the responsibility of politicians. Even after so many years of Independence, we have not been able to give drinking water, proper prices to farmers.”
3.50 pm: “We have the mandate of the people, BJP is the single-largest party. The people have rejected the Congress and the JD(S),” says Yeddyurappa.
3.47 pm: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi said I will be the chief ministerial candidate in Karnataka on Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s anniversary, he had never named a chief ministerial candidate before elections,” says Yeddyurappa. “For two years since 2016, I have toured the different parts of the state, and attempted to understand the problems of the people.” He thanks the people of the state and Modi.
3.44 pm: Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa begins addressing the Assembly.
3.42 pm: Anand Singh sits beside Congress leader DK Shivakumar in the Assembly.
3.36 pm: BJP leader Somashekara Reddy, mining baron G Janardhan Reddy’s brother, claims he does not know Anand Singh and Pratap Gouda Patil, and says he did not visit them at Goldfinch hotel in Bengaluru, ANI reports.
3.33 pm: Singh, the MLA-elect from Vijayanagara in Ballari district, arrives at Assembly, reports India Today. He has interests in mining and the hospitality sector and was once closely associated with mining baron G Janardhan Reddy. He was the tourism minister in the previous BJP government, and joined the Congress in January.
3.30 pm: Congress MLA Anand Singh expected to reach Vidhan Soudha in the next 10 minutes, reports India Today.
3.20 pm: ANI tweets visuals of Congress MLA Pratap Gouda Patil being brought to the Vidhan Soudha ahead of the floor test. Patil had reportedly gone missing with fellow legislator Anand Singh.
3.13 pm: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the BJP’s alleged attempts to bribe Congress MLAs. “Does he have the moral courage to advise BJP Karnataka and BS Yeddyurappa to stop these attempts to bribe MLAs, and allow the formation of a stable coalition Government in the interest of Karnataka?” he asks.
3.08 pm: Pratap Gouda Patil, who was one of the two Congress MLAs who had gone incommunicado, seen at Vidhana Soudha with Congress leaders DK Suresh and Dinesh Gundu.
3.02 pm: Congress leader DK Shivakumar says Yedyurappa will resign. The News Minute quotes two unidentified BJP leaders as saying that it is likely.
2.13 pm: BS Yeddyurappa may resign as chief minister if he fails to prove majority, reports CNN-News18 quoting sources.
2 pm: Shiv Sena said the Supreme Court’s decision to reject the 15-day window given to the BJP to prove its majority showed that Governor Vajubhai Vala has erred, PTI reports.
1.44 pm: Karnataka Assembly adjourned till 3.30 pm.
1.42 pm: Security tightened outside Goldfinch Hotel in Bengaluru. Some reports claim the missing Congress MLAs are being held captive there.
1.23 pm: Congress accuses Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra of horse trading. The party claims that Vijayendra tried to bribe a Congress MLA with a ministerial position and Rs 15 crores.
“He [BJP’s BY Vijayendra] called the wife of a Congress MLA and asked her to request her husband to vote for Yeddyurappa. He said: ‘we’ll give your husband a ministry or else we’ll give Rs 15 crore’,” Congress leader VS Ugrappa tells ANI.
1.20 pm: BJP leader Somashekhar Reddy is with the two missing Congress MLAs Anand Singh and Pratap Gouda, say reports.
1.18 pm: Congress leader Kapil Sibal says Prime Minister Narendra Modi should preach “Na kharidunga, na kharidne dunga [won’t buy support/MLAs, will not allow others to buy either]”. This was in reference to the prime minister’s comment of “Na khaunga, na khane dunga [Won’t indulge in corruption, won’t allow others to]”.
12.44 pm: Congress MLA DK Shivkumar he is confident that the “missing” MLAs would return to the flock, reports NDTV.
12.35 pm: BJP will soon be exposed to the whole world, claims Congress’s Veerappa Moily.
12.31 pm: Congress leader Kapil Sibal says they did not press the demand for a change of the pro-tem speaker since the Supreme Court agreed to the live broadcast of proceedings in the House.
Abhishek Singhvi says: “There was no way of postponing the trust vote, hence we agreed to proceed with Bopaiah as the pro-tem speaker.”
12.25 pm: BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa and B Sriramulu resign from Lok Sabha.
12.24 pm: Former Finance Minister says every trick of the BJP to delay or derail the vote of confidence has been defeated. “In Karnataka, what is at stake is not only who will form the Government, but who will be loyal to the electorate and uphold the verdict of his/her voters,” he says in a series of tweets.
11.40 am: Some reports claim two Congress MLAs, Anand Singh and Pratap Patil, are “missing” and are not with the others at Vidhana Soudha.
11.30 am: To recap, the floor test will not be a secret ballot, and will be telecast live on television to ensure transparency. Pro-tem Speaker KG Bopaiah says the vote will either be a voice vote, head count, or show of hands.
11.23 am: Abhishek Manu Singhvi says his party is thankful to the Supreme Court for hearing an urgent matter and ensuring transparency in the floor test.
11.15 am: Yeddyurappa and Siddaramaiah are among the MLAs who take oath at the Vidhana Soudha.
11.09 am: The Supreme Court has rejected the Congress’ plea. Bopaiah will remain the interim speaker for the floor test.
11.08 am: The judges say they will not delve into the Congress’ petition in light of what Tushar Mehta said, and that a live broadcast is the best way to ensure transparency during the floor test.
11.07 am: The court orders that Assembly proceedings must be telecast live.
11.04 am: Justice Sikri says it is not the law that the court can instruct the governor to appoint the most senior MLA as pro-tem speaker.
11.02 am: Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, says the foor test will be broadcast live to ensure transparency.
11.01 am: “You are in a zone of consideration. You want us to test the suitability of the pro-tem speaker but you do not want to postpone the test”, LiveLaw reports Bobde as saying.
11 am: Justice Bobde tells Sibal if they want the court to question the integrity of the pro-tem speaker, they must then issue him a notice and postpone the floor test.
10.54 am: Sibal tells the court the new pro-tem speaker has manipulated the majority in the Assembly before, and that he a supporter of Yeddyurappa’s.
10.45 am: Congress leader Kapil Sibal lists out how the pro-tem speaker has traditionally been the most senior member of the House.
9.30 am: Congress leader and the party’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi goes to the Supreme Court ahead of a hearing scheduled for 10.30 am. Chief Justice Dipak Misra has listed the Congress’ plea before Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde and Ashok Bhusha.
9 am: Security has been increased outside the Karnataka Assembly ahead of the floor test.
8.55 am: The BJP will holding a legislative party meeting before the floor test. Yeddyurappa leaves for the meeting, reports ANI.
8.30 am: Both the Congress-JD(S) and BJP claim they are confident they will win the floor test.
7.30 am: What the Supreme Court ordered for Saturday:
7 am: Two buses carrying the Congress MLAs arrives in Bengaluru.