Bengaluru: Here are the latest developments in Karnataka, where the BJP and the Congress-JD(S) alliance are staking claim to form government after the state threw up a fractured mandate in the Assembly polls held on May 12 :
• Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala invited BJP legislative party leader B S Yeddyurappa to form the new government and to take oath as chief minister.
• Yeddyurappa gets 15 days' time to prove majority in Assembly.
• The Congress moved the Supreme Court against the governo's decision to invite Yeddyurappa to form the government.
• Earlier, JDS and Congress leaders met Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala to press their claim for government formation and submits a list of 117 MLAs.
• State Congress chief Parameshwara said Vala assured them he would act as per Constitution, Supreme Court judgments and precedents.
• BJP MPs Shobha Karandlaje, GM Siddeshwara and PC Mohan alleged phone tapping by Karnataka government.
• The Congress-JD(S) combine tried to parade its MLAs before governor Vajubhai Vala, but he refused to entertain the move.
• JD(S) met the governor and submitted the necessary documents which show that the alliance has the numbers required to form the government.
• JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said the governor promised that he will consider the matter according to the Constitution
• Outgoing CM Siddaramaiah accused prime minister Narendra Modi of encouraging horse-trading.
• Union minister Prakash Javadekar dismissed as imaginary Kumaraswamy's charge that BJP was offering Rs 100 crore to lure its MLAs.
• Kumaraswamy was elected leader of JD(S) legislature party.
• B S Yeddyurappa was elected leader of BJP legislature party, met governor and gave letter about his unanimous election to the post, said he should be asked to take oath as chief minister.
Missing MLAs
Some reports said that a few MLAs from the JD(S)-Congress camp were missing, fuelling speculations that they have switched sides with the BJP. If two JD(S) MLAs skipped a key party meet on Wednesday morning, as many as 12 MLAs of the Congress did not turn up at the parliamentary board meet on Wednesday. There were also rumours that MLAs have been shifted to resorts.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also cried foul and alleged the BJP was trying to split its newly elected MLAs, but asserted it would fail in the endeavour.
"It is the 6th state where they (BJP) are trying to break Congress MLAs, but they will not succeed," he said.
The Congress has 78 MLAs in the new assembly, which is yet to be formally constituted.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar had said an attempt was being made to create 'unnatural tension'.
"People are with us," he said.
Senior BJP leaders Suresh Kumar and K S Eshwarappa also said they were confident the party would form the government.
BJP veteran Eshwarappa claimed several MLAs in the Congress and JD(S) were unhappy about the alliance and were likely to break away from their parties.
Polling was held for 222 of the state's 224 Assembly seats following deferment of voting for the R R Nagar constituency over allegations of vitiation of the electoral process, and countermanding of election for the Jayanagar seat due to the death of the BJP candidate.
Read more: Latest on Karnataka polls
