NEW DELHI: In India, BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa resigned as Karnataka’s chief minister on Saturday, minutes before a Supreme Court-ordered trust vote and two days after he was sworn in.
“I’m resigning as chief minister. I’m grateful to the speaker for giving me this opportunity,” Yeddyurappa said in the Karnataka assembly after it became clear that the BJP wouldn’t get the support of enough MLAs to support his government.
The trust vote was ordered by the Supreme Court on a petition by the Congress and JD(S) challenging governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision inviting Yeddyurappa to form the government and prove his majority in 15 days after election results were announced on Tuesday.
The Congress won 78 seats and the JD(S) 37. One seat went to JD(S) ally BSP, and the others to a local party and an independent. Voting was held on May 12 in 222 out of the state’s 224 seats.
The BJP on Saturday admitted that its Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa resigned as his government did not have the numbers for simple majority to win the trust vote in a hung Assembly.
In Karnataka, Congress gets first ‘real win’ over BJP in four years, but electoral challenge persists
While analysts give Congress credit for outmanoeuvring the BJP, they point out that the party still needs to up its electoral game. After all, it did see its tally in the Karnataka assembly go down from 122 to 78.
AP