BS Yeddyurappa to take oath as Karnataka chief minister at 6pm today; asked to prove majority by July 31

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Friday met Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala and staked claim to form the government.

Karnataka BJP President BS Yeddyurappa will now take oath as the chief minister, for the fourth time, at 6pm today. He will have to prove the majority of his government in state Assembly by July 31.

The development comes after a Karnataka BJP delegation met Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP Working President JP Nadda on Thursday to discuss the plan of action.

Shah thereafter asked Yeddyurappa to meet the Karnataka Governor and take oath as the chief minister at the earliest.

In another significant development, Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Thursday disqualified three rebel Congress MLAs - R Shankar, Ramesh Jharkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli - for defying the party's whip.

Announcing the decisions on the disqualification, he said the decision on 14 other rebel legislators would be taken in a couple of days after going through their resignations and the complaints for disqualification against them in detail.

The Congress-JD(S) coalition government fell on Tuesday as the outgoing chief minister HD Kumaraswamy lost the trust vote in the Assembly. Following the defeat, Kumaraswamy submitted his resignation to Governor Vajubhai Vala at Raj Bhavan, along with his cabinet ministers.

(With inputs from agencies)