After mid-night court room drama, BJP's Yeddyurappa swears in as Karnataka CM

Bengaluru: Draped in a green shawl on his white safari suit, BJP’s B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday morning took oath as the chief minister of Karnataka for a second time. The swearing-in came after an overnight high-voltage legal battle in the Supreme Court.

Yeddyurappa took oath as the chief minister in the name of God and farmers amid chants of "Modi, Modi" and sloganeering at the Raj Bhavan.

Yeddyurappa was projected in the run-up to assembly election as 'Raitha Bandhu' - the friend of the farmers.

The 75-year-old Lingayat strongman was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Vajubhai Vala amid cheering by his supporters.

Yeddyurappa was administered the oath alone.

The venue was all decked up for the culmination of a dramatic turn of events that had unfolded since the fractured mandate on May 15 with the BJP emerging as the single largest party but falling short of majority.

Yeddyruppa was accompanied by his sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra, senior party functionaries including union ministers D V Sadananda Gowda and Prakash Javadekar and BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao.

After the swearing in, Yeddyurappa drove to the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, and bowed at the entrance steps before entering his office as the new chief minister of the state.

In a rare post-midnight courtroom battle, the Congress-JD(S) combine made a desperate legal push to stall the government formation. Yeddyurappa has 15 days to prove his majority in the Assembly. The BJP has 104 MLAs in the House, eight short of the magic figure of 112.

Polling was held in 222 of the state's 224 seats.