BS Yeddyurappa takes oath; Supreme Court to decide on him today

Bengaluru/New Delhi: With his political future hanging by a slender thread, B.S.Yeddyurappa was on Thursday sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the third time amid protests by the JD(S)-Congress combine whose MLAs hunkered down in resorts and hotels following alleged attempts at poaching by the BJP. Mr Yeddyurappa was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Vajubhai Vala, who controversially invited him to form the government despite the BJP falling short of majority.

The Supreme Court will take up for scrutiny on Friday the two letters written by Mr Yeddyurappa to the Karnataka governor on May 15 and 16 staking his claim to forming the government. At a hearing held in the early hours of Thursday, a three-judge bench of Justices A.K. Sikri, S.A. Bobde and Ashok Bhushan, after a marathon hearing that lasted for over three hours, asked attorney-general K.K. Venugopal to submit the two letters based on which the governor had invited Mr Yeddyurappa to form the government though he had the support of only 104 MLAs in an Assembly of 222 members (for now).

The court said it wanted to examine the contents of the two letters, which formed the basis for the governor to invite Mr Yeddyurappa to form the government. On Thursday senior lawyer and former law minister Ram Jethmalani made a “mention” before Chief Justice Dipak Misra for listing a petition filed by him in his personal capacity questioning the decision of the Governor to invite Mr Yeddyurappa to form the government.  He said this would result in horse-trading and corruption.  

The CJI asked Mr Jethmalani to make a mention on Friday when the case is to be taken up for hearing by a bench headed by Justice Sikri. The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), which had filed a petition to stay the swearing-in, are also questioning the rationale of the governor’s decision to grant 15 days’ time to Mr Yeddyurappa to prove his majority on the floor of the House.  It was pointed out during the hearing held from 2 am to 5.30 am on Thursday that the Governor had granted 15 days, though Mr Yeddyurappa had sought only seven days. On Friday, they will urge the court to advance the floor test by restricting the number of days from 15 to seven.

The bench will also take up for hearing a fresh application seeking to restrain the Chief Minster from nominating or appointing any member of the Anglo-Indian community as an MLA in the Assembly until the floor test is conducted.  It was submitted that the Governor could not exercise the power of nomination, which can be done only on the aid and advice of the Chief Minister and his council of ministers.  In this case, as Mr Yeddyurappa is yet to undertake the floor test, he does not have the legal, moral or constitutional authority to advise the governor to exercise his power under Article 333.