Hurdles cleared, K'swamy oath Friday

Bangalore: The first legal hurdle in the way of Karnataka chief minister in-waiting H D Kumaraswamy is out of his way.

And an emboldened Kumaraswamy has said he would take the oath on Friday along with BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, who would be the Deputy Chief Minister under a power-sharing deal.

The swearing-in ceremony, to be held around 1230 hrs (IST) in front of the Vidhana Soudha, the State Secretariat, would end the fortnight-long political drama.

Kumaraswamy said he would seek the vote of confidence on February 8.

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday rejected the plea against H D Kumaraswamy’s election as Janata Dal (Secular) Legislative Party leader.

Earlier, the court had served notices to the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly and 38 Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs on a petition challenging the Speaker’s decision to recognise Kumaraswamy as the leader of the JD(S) Legislature Party.

The petition was filed by three MLAs - Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha), Sriram Reddy (CPI-M) and Rajendran (Republican Party of India) -challenging the Speaker’s decision.

The petition said: “He (Kumaraswamy) could not be recognised as the party leader when its original leader M P Prakash had neither resigned nor been sacked.”

Karnataka Assembly Speaker, Krishna, who has come under criticism from the Congress, too has justified his action in recognising Kumaraswamy as JD(S) Legislature Party leader and adjourning the House sine die on January 27.

As the Speaker, he has powers to take decisions which, he said, have been taken as per rules and norms, Krishna told reporters but refused to be drawn into a discussion over his actions which have drawn criticism from the Congress.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy and the MLAs supporting him is to meet JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday evening to ‘clear’ differences with him over the forming the new government, a day ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.

Ahead of the meeting with the MLAs, Deve Gowda has summoned senior leaders M P Prakash, P G R Sindhia and D Manjunath for consultations on the future course of action the party has to take in the event of rebels going ahead with their plans on government formation.

While Deve Gowda has stepped up efforts to lure the rebels back and the consultations with them come in the backdrop of the JDS national executive likely to meet in Delhi on Friday, where the party was expected to take a view on the issue.

(With agency inputs)