News18.com Daybreak : Kumaraswamy to Meet Sonia-Rahul Ahead of Swearing-in and Stories You May Have Missed

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In a dramatic end to the 2018 Karnataka Election results, HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) will be sworn-in as the CM of Karnataka after BS Yeddyurappa resigned as Chief Minister on Saturday, just two days after his swearing-in and barely hours before the Yeddyurappa government’s trust vote on the Karnataka Assembly floor. Kumaraswamy will, on Monday, meet with Rahul and Sonia Gandhi of the Congress, the party with the lion share in the Cong-JD(s) alliance, to discuss modalities of cabinet and ministerial berth sharing.

Taking no chances, both JD(S) and Congress are continuing to keep its MLAs herded in resorts and hotels until Kumaraswamy proves his majority on the Assembly floor. Kumaraswamy reportedly plans to wrap up the floor test within 24 hours of swearing in. 

The Supreme Court had on Friday ruled against the 15 days given to the BSYgovernment to prove its majority in a floor test, reducing it instead to one day, i.e. Saturday, in response to the Cong-JD(S) combine’s plea against BSY’s appointment as CM despite lack of majority and against the giving of 15 days to the party to prove its majority, which the Opposition claimed would surely lead to ‘horse-trading’.

The SC, however, refused to stay the appointment of three-time BJP MLA KG Bopaiah as the pro-tem (temporary) speaker in the Karnataka Assembly despite Congress moving the apex court against his appointment. The Congress claimed that according to Constitutional provisions, the pro tem speaker had to be the oldest serving MLA in the house and that Bopaiah did not fulfil this criterion. Dismissing the plea, the SC responded instead by ordering live telecast of the floor test to ensure transparency.

The hours leading up to the floor test witnessed high drama as both Congress and JD(S) scrambled to protect their MLAs from alleged poaching by the BJP. Two of Congress’s MLAs, who had gone incommunicado, were found in a Bengaluru hotel on Saturday. Both returned to the Assembly just in time for the trust vote, ensuring the Cong-JD(S)’s majority.

BSY’s resignation follows two audio clips released by the Congress, implicating BJP leaders trying to poach Congress MLAs. On Friday, an audio of BJL leader Janardhan Reddy, who has previously been accused in the Bellary mining scam, allegedly trying to poach a Congress MLA by offering him financial gains. The second, released by the Congress just hours before the floor test, frames BSY himself trying to poach Congress’s Hirekur MLA BC Patil by offering him a place in the Ministry.

Congress’s alacritous use of technology helped them to turn the Karnataka elections in its favour. Instead of confiscating the cell phones of the hoarded MLAs as is the norm, Congress MLAs, who were initially hoarded in Bengaluru’s Eagleton resort, were allowed to keep their cell phones. They were made to download a voice recording app which helped them to identify alleged attempts to poach Congress MLAs.

An estimated 1.9 billion people tuned in to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's star-studded royal wedding at the iconic St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, according to a media report. Prince Harry, 33, and Meghan, 36, exchanged vows at the Chapel yesterday in presence of 600 guests, including the Queen.

Meghan Markle looked stunning in a boat-necked Givenchy gown. Find pictures from the ceremony here.

Among others, the wedding was also attended by Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, who attended the ceremony in Windsor in a stunning Vivienne Westwood outfit.

Despite facing defeat after a five-day struggle to attain power in Karnataka, the BJP leadership seems confident about the upcoming Mizoram Assembly Elections with party chief Amit Shah declaring that the North-Earth will be ‘congress-free’ by 2019.

The signature of Vishal Jangotra, an accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in January, does not match the one which he claimed to have signed in an exam attendance sheet in Meerut to claim he was not at the crime scene, according to a report of forensic experts. The report by the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), detailing this conclusion, has been submitted to the crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir police, according to officials in the probe team.

Petrol price on Sunday touched a record high of Rs 76.24 per litre and diesel climbed to its highest ever level of Rs 67.57 as oil PSUs passed on four weeks of the relentless rise in international oil prices to consumers.

The Karnataka Governor Vajuvai Vala’s decision to invite BJP to form the government instead of Cong-JD(S) combine despite the latter commanding majority was criticised by many including actor Rajnikath, who, on Sunday, launched a scathing attack on the Governor. The actor claimed that giving 15 days’ time for floor text to BSY to prove his majority in the house was a ‘mockery of democracy.

Agree or disagree?

A Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka has larger ramification on national politics. Firstly, the Congress has given a message to regional satraps on its willingness to accommodate them in the state and at the Centre. Deve Gowda doesn’t come alone. He may bring with him other regional leaders who are not yet in the BJP camp. Emulation of the model in other states where the Congress is still a player may lead to building up of small yet concentrated electoral blocks in other provinces.

After concoctions of every order, Congress has finally crossed the last hurdle for forming a government in Karnataka. With BS Yeddyurappa stepping down as the Chief Minister before the confidence vote, Congress’s winning combination of strategies seems to have saved them the electoral loss of the state. Here is a list of measures taken by the Congress that worked towards their eventual win.

Election narratives are often about the winner taking it all and the loser getting nothing. But in the convoluted contours of a hung Assembly in Karnataka, the script seems to have been reversed.