BJP to stake claim to form govt in Karnataka: BS Yeddyurappa

Karnataka BJP President B S Yeddyurappa on Friday said he will be meeting Governor Vajubhai Vala to stake claim to form the government in the state, and request him to administer oath.

"I'm going to meet Governor today to stake claim to form government, today only I will request the Governor to administer me oath," Yeddyurappa said. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "as I'm already the Leader of the Opposition, there is need to call legislature party meeting." Yeddyurappa for the last couple of days had been waiting for "instructions" from the party high command to stake claim to form the government after the Congress-JDS coalition government had collapsed after the floor test on Tuesday.

A group of Karnataka BJP leaders, including Jagdish Shettar, Arvind Limbavali, J C Madhuswamy, Basavaraj Bommai and Yeddyurappa's son Vijayendra Thursday had met party chief Amit Shah in New Delhi and reportedly discussed the government formation. Karnataka Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Thursday had disqualified three rebel Congress MLAs under the anti-defection law.

The 14-month-old Congress-JDS coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy collapsed on Tuesday after losing the vote of confidence in the Assembly in a climax to the three-week long intense power struggle.

-PTI