Bangalore, February 2
Decks were cleared for the enthronement of Janata Dal (Secular) leader
H.D. Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister of Karnataka today. While the
reprieve from the high court, which rejected a petition seeking the
disqualification of his Legislators, was welcome, he finally had the
moral authority to take on the mantle with his father asking him “to
go ahead”.
But the other part of the sentence was: “But I will not bless you”. However, even this seems to be enough for Kumaraswamy and his group of 35 Legislators who are set to embrace the BJP tomorrow.
JD(S) sources said Kumaraswamy and his group, who had gone to visit Gowda to take his blessings, presented him with a fait accompli. “Bless us. We are forming the government with the BJP”. They said Gowda responded in the only way he could.
Kumaraswamy will take oath as Chief Minister tomorrow on the portals of the Vidhan Soudha for which preparations are in full swing. Senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa will take oath as Deputy Chief Minister. The ministry will be expanded only after the vote of confidence is moved by Kumaraswamy on February 8 on the floor of the House due to the intense lobbying going on in the JD(S) group for ministerial posts.
Earlier in the day today, a Division Bench of the high court, while passing its ruling on a petition filed by three Legislators, said as Speaker Krishna was still to take any decision on the issue of disqualification of the JD(S) Legislators, it was not inclined to pass any order at this stage.
Three Legislators, Vatal Nagaraj of the Kannada Vhaluvali Vatak Paksha, G.V. Srirama Reddy of the CPM and S. Rajendran of the Republican Party, had filed a petition in the high court pleading that the presiding officer of the House should be directed to disqualify the JD(S) group, led by Kumaraswamy, besides challenging the recognition given to Kumaraswamy as JD(S) Legislature Party leader.
Meanwhile, Speaker Krishna has justified his action saying that he had the powers to take decisions as per rules.
