The Congress urged Chief Justice Dipak Misra to hold an urgent hearing on Wednesday night itself.
'After the Parliament election results many people are confused and that is why this crisis has erupted
Radhika Ramaseshan reports on why the Karnataka chief minister risked crossing swords with his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and its ideological wellspring, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
'New Delhi is in a perpetual dilemma. It can't do without Yediyurappa, but it doesn't want a powerful CM. It stokes the opponents within against him. The result is he has never settled down in office, even in the present tenure'
Among the three Deputy Chief Ministers are Govind Karjol, who has also been given the charge of PWD and Social welfare; Ashwath Narayan the portfolio of Higher Education, IT & BT, Science and Technology; and Laxman Savadi with Transport department.
There seems to be no "closure" for B S Yediyurappa, the Bharatiya Janata Party's "comeback man" in Karnataka, as he could never complete a full term in office, despite becoming the chief minister four times, surmounting odds. It's also too early to write a political obituary of the 78-year old Lingayat strongman and the 24X7 politician, the face of the party in the state for decades.
The BJP needs to win at least six of the seats to remain in majority in the 225-member assembly (including the Speaker, who has a casting vote), which would still have two vacant seats -- Maski and R R Nagar.
JD-S sources read it as an attempt by Modi to sow seeds of doubt in the Opposition ranks.
The by-elections are being held to fill the vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel Congress and Janata Dal-Secular MLAs, whose rebellion led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July and paved the way for the BJP to come to power.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi further said Karnataka assembly speaker K R Ramesh Kumar was free to decide on the resignations of the rebel legislators within the time-frame decided by him.
The portfolios were cleared by Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the exercise had turned out to be tricky for the party state leaders.
'It must have stung Devendra Fadnavis to see Modi asking MPs at the BJP parliamentary party meeting to give Yediyurappa a standing ovation for his victory in the by-elections that has resulted in pulling the BJP government in Karnataka off the ventilator,' notes Aditi Phadnis.
With the D-day for the polls drawing closer, Modi upped the ante against the Siddaramaiah government addressing four back to back rallies at Gadag, Tumakuru, Shivamogga and Mangaluru.
A bench headed by the CJI took note of the submission of sr advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the rebel MLAs.
The magic figure for simple majority was 105, equivalent to the strength of the BJP, which also commanded the support of an Independent.
'... in the form of possible payments to MLAs and horse-trading for the BJP to win.'
Yediyurappa said he would decide on members to be inducted into the ministry after consulting party president Amit Shah.
Counting of votes is underway in assembly byelection to 58 seats in 11 states including Madhya Pradesh where the results will decide the fate of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
'The Congress-JD-S alliance will be intact for the next three years, for sure.'
'Why is the entire Cabinet running around in Bangalore?' 'Why are they making arrangements for horse-trading?' 'Is this not the BJP's greed for power?' 'They have won the entire country. Why are they so desperate for Karnataka?'
The Congress said it will observe 'Save Democracy Day' on Friday with party workers and leaders holding protest marches at all district and state headquarters.
'Voters did not turn up in large numbers in Bangalore.' 'If more voters of Bangalore had come to vote, we would definitely have reached the magic figure.'
'Don't forget the BJP in the last election almost doubled its vote.' 'Even if they were not traditional BJP supporters, they were convinced about Mr Modi.' 'If the voter perceives that Mr Modi has performed well and he reinforces it, they will vote for him.' 'Otherwise, they won't.'
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