Yeddyurappa's resignation is a replay of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's in 1996

The turn of events that compelled the BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa to resign as Karnataka chief minister was a flashback to 1996 when a similar fate had forced then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to resign his post.

Vajpayee had assumed office as the 10th prime minister of India in May 1996. He was invited by the president to form the government after the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP had won 161 seats out of 545. Along with its allies, the party had gained authority over 194 seats. The majority mark required to form the government was 272. 

Vajpayee held the position of prime minister for 13 days. However, he failed to garner enough support and was eventually forced to step down. After Vajpayee's resignation on May 27, 1996, his government was replaced by an alliance between the Congress and the HD Deve Gowda-led United Front. The Congress, which was the second largest party with 140 seats, gave the United Front outside support.

On Saturday, the Karnataka legislative assembly witnessed the resignation of the two-day-old BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa. Despite scoring the highest number of seats (104) in the elections, the BJP failed to form a government in the state. The Congress, which emerged the second-largest party with 78 seats, extended its support to the JD(S), which is the third-largest party with 37 seats.

Gowda became the country's 11th prime minister, replacing Vajpayee's 13-day BJP government.

Similar to 1996, the BJP government in Karnataka led by BS Yeddyurappa will be replaced by a JD(S)-Congress alliance lead by HD Deve Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy.

The only difference is that the Congress this time is part of the government. 

Kumaraswamy's swearing-in ceremeony will be held on May 23 in Bengaluru.