NEW DELHI: BJP legislature party leader B S Yeddyurappa was today sworn in as the chief minister of Karnataka for a second time.
The veteran politician took the oath of office “in the name of God and farmer” while sporting a green shawl draped on his shoulders, a nod to farmer activism in Karnataka.
The 75-year-old Lingayat strongman was administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor Vajubhai Vala at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan, hours after a pre-dawn legal showdown between the BJP and Congress-JD(S) combine at the Supreme Court.
Highlights
BJP’s Yeddyurappa sworn in as Karnataka chief minister
NEW DELHI: BJP legislature party leader B S Yeddyurappa was today sworn in as the chief minister of Karnataka for a second time.
The veteran politician took the oath of office “in the name of God and farmer” while sporting a green shawl draped on his shoulders, a nod to farmer activism in Karnataka.
The 75-year-old Lingayat strongman was administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor Vajubhai Vala at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan, hours after a pre-dawn legal showdown between the BJP and Congress-JD(S) combine at the Supreme Court.
In a last-ditch attempt to prevent the BJP from coming to power in the southern state, the post-poll Congress-JD(S) alliance had filed a writ petition at the apex court demanding a stay on the governor’s invitation to the BJP to form the government.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Congress-JD (S) combine, said that the swearing-in ceremony should be stayed or deferred, but the bench stated: “We are not staying the oath taking ceremony”.
The apex court, however, made it clear that the swearing-in and the government formation in the state would be subject to the final outcome of the case before it.
Yeddyurappa has 15 days to prove his majority in the state legislative assembly.
The BJP has 104 MLAs in the House, eight short of the magic figure of 112. The Congress-JD(S) combine enjoys the support of 117 MLAs.
Yeddyurappa: From government clerk to chief minister ‘s office
From the humdrum existence as a government clerk and a hardware store owner to a second stint as Karntaka chief minister, B S Yeddyurappa has navigated the choppy waters of politics with the consummate ease of a seasoned oarsman, defying tidal waves of adversity.
A hardboiled RSS Swayamsevak, Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa joined the Hindu right organisation when he was barely 15, and cut his political teeth in the Jana Sangh, the BJP’s forerunner, in his hometown Shikaripura in Shivamogga district.
He became the Jana Sangh’s Shikaripura taluka chief in the early 1970s.
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