The BSP is depending on votes from Dalits and minorities to make inroads into Congress and JD-S vote banks. The party is confident of coming in third place, saying that would be a satisfactory result for its first foray into Karnataka politics.
Vajpayee had resigned just 13 days after being in power due to lack of numbers.
H D Deve Gowda may have created an impact of sorts when he made the speech in Parliament, which was debating whether to dissolve the Karnataka Legislative Assembly or not.
Whether I have become a political untouchable now or not, will be decided by the people of Karnataka, says JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda.
Leaders from across the political spectrum came out and congratulated Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray after he was sworn in as the Maharashtra chief minister.
A day after he defied the party whip and voted in favour of the United Progressive Alliance government's confidence motion, Janata Dal-Secular MP Shivanna was on Wednesday expelled from the party. JD-S secretary general Danish Ali told PTI that steps have been initiated to disqualify him from the Lok Sabha and a letter was being sent to the speaker in this regard.
'My party has taken the decision to vote against the motion of no-confidence and it remains unchanged. The nuclear deal is not the reflection of the nation's mood. It does not represent the people's wish,' he said.
In key organisational changes, the Congress on Wednesday appointed young face Anil Chaudhary as its Delhi unit chief and named D K Shivakumar, known to be the party's chief troubleshooter in crisis situations, as the head of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
'Ideally, Gowda should ask for a Cabinet berth in the Union government. This would help us build the party and a tie-up for us with the Congress is always good, keeping in mind the forthcoming elections.' says Janata Dal-S MP Shivanna.
Even as Janata Dal-Secular leader Veerendrakumar says that he will vote against the United Progressive Alliance in the trust vote even if a whip to support the motion is issued, the JD-S camp in Bengaluru maintains that the party is united and there will be no difference of opinion.
A free bicycle scheme, transfer of officials, distribution of ration cards and development of airports at Gulbarga and Shimoga -- all these decisions were taken in the absence of its coalition partner, the Janata Dal-Secular.
Yediyurappa, who was deputy chief minister and finance minister in the Janata Dal Secular-BJP coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy, said he received a call from the Governor when he was at the Vaishno Devi shrine on Thursday.
A couple of independent MLAs led by Vatal Nagraj of the Vatal party said that it is not correct to form the government especially when a petition seeking disqualification of the JD-S MLAs is pending before the speaker.
The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor T N Chaturvedi in the Vidhan Soudha premises.
After days of hard bargaining and brinksmanship, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has finally consented to become deputy CM as per the arrangement between the two parties, sources revealed. But there is one hitch still left for Yediyurappa. Kumaraswamy's brother Revanna is not in favour of the deal, but an overwhelming majority of the JD-S legislators, who stand to lose their perks if the assembly is dissolved, are expected to convince Revanna at a crucial JD-S party meet today.
The cabinet is expected to finalise the date for a special legislative session later this month. Sources in the Janata Dal Secular said that the session will be held after October 15 to dissolve the Assembly and declare elections in the state.
Congress has adopted a wait-and-watch mode in Karnataka in spite of reports suggesting that it might extend outside support to the JDS if the latter severed links with the BJP. The final decision will be taken by Sonia Gandhi when she comes back.
Gowda is not expected to come to any conclusion immediately and would seek another round of talks with the BJP in which he would try and convince them to continue with the same combination.
Will power be transferred or will the people have to go to polls is the million dollar question? It all depends on some of the key players who can either make or break the government in Karnataka.
Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy has said that he will step down on October 3, irrespective of whether power is transferred to the BJP.Senior JD (S) leaders have advised the chief minister to continue in power till the issue is sorted out.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha, who is in charge of party affairs in Karnataka, briefed the top party leadership about the crisis in the state following the suspension of talks between the BJP and JD (S) abt the impending power transfer
In a sudden development, Janata Dal-Secular has suspended its negotiations with the Bharatiya Janata Party on the transfer of power in Karnataka.
The national council of the rebel Janata Dal-Secular, called by the faction opposed to H D Deve Gowda, on Saturday endorsed the party's executive decision to suspend the former prime minister from the primary membership of the party.
While the past experience with the Janata Dal-Secular has ruled out a re-alliance as of now, it seems likely that the BJP may rely on the five independent candidates who have been elected on Sunday. The BJP top brass is already in touch with the five independent candidates to muster their support in order to form the first ever independent BJP government in south India.
'We all are together and whatever decision we have taken.. at any cost no question of going back (on resignations)'
"JD-S will not transfer power to BJP. See what all will happen on October 3," Singh, a former chief minister, told reporters in Bangalore on Thursday.
The former prime minister said that he will take a decision about transferring power to the BJP after meeting top party leaders on September 27.
Bharatiya Janata Party emerged on top with 32-42 out of the 66 seats, which went to polls in the second phase of Karnataka assembly elections on Friday followed by Congress (15-20) and Janata Dal-Secular (8-12), according to an exit poll by NDTV news channel. Others were expected to win around 2-4 seats, the exit poll said.
When the two parties formed the government, they mutually agreed that the Janata Dal (Secular) will hand over power to the BJP on October 3, 2007.
Police have made tight security arrangements for the swearing-in ceremony. Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh and the party's senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu will be present
Moves are being made by senior leaders of Janata Dal (Secular) for his expulsion from the party.
In a last-ditch bid to save the coalition government in Karnataka, Congress Friday offered Janata Dal-Secular the "Maharashtra model" power-sharing formula, just before Chief Minister Dharam Singh was to seek a vote of confidence.
The meeting will take place at Krishna, the chief minister's official residence on Saturday at 8 am.
The date for a meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Gowda has not yet been set.
Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-Secular legislators boycotted the governor's address to the joint session of the legislature.
Kumaraswamy has with him, 46 of the 58 MLAs and has broken away from the faction that remains loyal to his father, H D Deve Gowda.
At present in Karnataka, if one takes a close look at the manner in which the tickets are being distributed it is clear that caste is being considered while handing out tickets. The Lingayats and the Vokkaligas have been dominant in Karnataka since time immemorial and the tussle for power between these two communities is no secret.
Gowda has hinted that there might be polls held soon in the state.
JD-S leaders are in constant touch with several candidates of both the Congress and the BJP and are hopeful that these candidates would agree to join their party. The Congress and the BJP have recently pocketed several JD-S candidates and now Deve Gowda's party has the opportunity to return the favour. To tackle the JD-S, the Congress is trying to delay the announcement of its final list, while the BJP is trying to downplay the widespread resentment among its party members.
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