Bengaluru: The BJP which has been waiting on the sidelines for the past six years, regained its citadel in south India a year after the Assembly polls in May 2018 with party state president B.S. Yediyurappa sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth time by Governor Vajubhai Vala on Friday evening.
Shortly after taking the oath, Mr Yediyurappa as he will be known from now on after changing his name from the earlier ‘Yeddyurappa,’ said he would move a motion of confidence in the Assembly on July 29 to prove his majority.
Sources said the new CM is confident of winning it in the expectation that the 13 rebel Congress and JDS MLAs may abstain as they did on Tuesday last, giving him the edge. Earlier this week, on Tuesday, the JD(S)-Congress coalition was ousted from power after it lost the vote on the confidence motion moved by outgoing CM H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa had a green shawl thrown across his shoulders as he took oath as CM watched by hundreds of his admirers, dignitaries, BJP leaders such as former external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and even rebel Congress leaders like Roshan Baig and Magadi Balakrishna.
The BJP which has been waiting on the sidelines for the past six years, regained its citadel in south India a year after the Assembly polls in May 2018 with its state president B.S. Yediyurappa sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth time by Governor Vajubhai Vala on Friday evening.
He had earlier served as CM for 8 days (November 12, 2007 to November 19, 2007) and occupied the office again in 2008 to continue in the post till 2011 before he had to step down after the Lokayukta indicted him in illegal mining cases.
In 2018, Yediyurappa took the oath as CM for the third time after the BJP became the single largest party in the Assembly but could survive in the post for only 48 hours after the Congress and JDS formed a coalition to bring him down. Sources said the BJP central leadership gave the green signal to Yediyurappa to stake claim to form the government after consulting senior counsels at the Supreme Court.
A BJP state delegation which had camped in Delhi, reportedly convinced party’s national president Amit Shah that the BJP would be able to muster the required numbers in the Assembly when Yediyurappa seeks a trust vote. On Friday morning, Mr Amit Shah telephoned Yediyurappa and asked him to stake claim.
