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Staring at defeat, Yeddy quits; Kumaraswamy to be sworn-in

Bengaluru: The three-day-old BJP government in Karnataka collapsed on Saturday, minutes before the scheduled trust vote, with Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa resigning in a tame anticlimax to what promised to be on the edge of seat political thriller.
With defeat staring him in the face, Yeddyurappa announced his decision to quit on the floor of the Assembly after a brief emotion-laden speech.
Hours later, H D Kumaraswamy, the chief ministerial candidate of the newly formed JS(S)-Congress-BSP alliance, met Governor Vajubhai Vala, and said he had been invited to form the government.
"Today, the BJP government failed to show their strength in the House. On that basis governor invited me to form the next government," Kumaraswamy told journalists.
The 58-year-old leader, son of JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, said the governor gave him 15 days to prove his majority but asserted "we don't need 15 days".
The oath ceremony will take place on Wednesday. Initially the CM-designate had said it would take place on Monday, but late deferred it.
Though Yeddyurappa kept exuding confidence about winning the trust vote, as the D-day loomed he failed to muster the support of 7 additional MLAs required to ensure the longevity of his government.
"I am going to resign as chief minister...I will go to Raj Bhavan and submit my resignation.
"I will not face the confidence vote. I am going to resign," he told the Assembly at the end of a brief emotional speech and headed straight to the Raj Bhavan where he handed over his resignation to Governor Vajubhai Vala. The political instability in the state stemmed from a split verdict the electorate gave on May 15, with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party but falling short of a majority.
Amid allegations of poaching attempts by the BJP, the Congress herded its MLAs at a resort outside Bengaluru, while those of the JD(S) hunkered down in a hotel in the state capital. They were later shifted to a hotel in Hyderabad and returned only after the Supreme Court on Friday ordered a floor test on a Congress-JD(S) petition.
As things grew murkier, the Congress released an audio tape where Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was purportedly heard trying to lure an MLA with the promise of a ministerial berth if he backed the BJP government during the trust vote.
There were allegations that Congress MLA Anand Singh was "abducted" by the BJP, but he turned up at the Vidhana Sauda minutes before Yeddyurappa began his speech. He was seen shaking hands with fellow Congress members and then sat with them. It was Yeddyurappa's shortest stint in power. He became the chief minister for the first time for seven days in 2007, but his government collapsed as the JD(S) reneged on honouring a power-sharing arrangement and withdrew support.
Buoyed by Saturday's collapse of the 3-day-old BJP government in Karnataka, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi launched a strong attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of authorising buying off MLAs and disrespecting institutions.
Gandhi also said while Modi talks of fighting corruption, "he is corruption". He hailed the unity shown by the Congress-JD(S) combine and said the opposition parties would work together to defeat the BJP.
Union minister Ananth Kumar hit back at the Congress leader saying that the latter has "lost his mind".
Taking a swipe at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of authorising 'buying off' of MLAs and disrespecting institutions, Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said it was like "Satan reading the Bible."
"Modiji, who rose from poverty to become Prime Minister, this, they (Congress leaders,including Gandhi) are not able to digest and hence should the Congress level such baseless allegations."
"This is coming from a family member whose whole family has been doing nothing but corruption,"he told reporters here.
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