Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy told rediff.com on Saturday that his party had decided to support the Bharatiya Janata Party in government formation. The JD-S' letter of support will handed over to Governor Rameshwar Thakur later in the day, he said.
JD-S spokesperson Meerajudin Patel is expected to hand over the letter of support to Governor Rameshwar Thakur.
After a hectic meeting, JD-S MLAs in the Kumaraswamy camp decided that it would be best to offer support to the BJP and form the government.
Kumarswamy said that his party had initially explored the possibility of forming the state government with the Congress. However, the former chief minister said bitterly, "When we looked up to them for support, they tried to split the party."
Kumaraswamy's stance indicated that he had the support of JD-S MLAs and there would be no need to work out the mathematics to form the government.
JD-S leaders said that there was no division in their camp, although the Congress had tried its level best to divide the party.
Meanwhile, the meeting of the BJP legislature committee is still going on in Bangalore. Sources said that the party was trying to work out the finer details of government formation. The BJP high command in New Delhi will take the final decision, said a senior leader. Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu is currently in Bangalore to supervise the process of government formation.
The Centre had imposed President's rule in the state after the BJP withdrew its support to the JD-S, when the latter refused to hand over the reins of the state.
Meanwhile, the meeting between senior JD-S leader M P Prakash and leaders from the Congress in New Delhi remained inconclusive. Sources have said that Prakash, who has the backing of atleast 12 MLAs, will join hands with Kumaraswamy in the formation of a government with the BJP.
A party seeking to form a government in Karnataka needs at least 113 seats in the 226-member Assembly. The BJP has 79 seats at present and with the support of Kuamraswamy's 30 MLAs, its strength will go up to109.
The JD(S)-BJP combine is also expecting the support of five independent candidates. With the support of M P Prakash and his 12 MLAs, the BJP-JDS combine will be able to stake a claim for government formation.
While BJP leader B S Yediyurappa is almost certain to become the chief minister, the candidate for the deputy chief minister's position has not been decided yet.
It is unlikely that Prakash will become the deputy CM as he is from the Lingayat community. None of the parties would want a chief minister and deputy chief minister from the same community.
Incidentally, JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda has maintained a studied silence about this new twist in Karnataka's political tale. While many believe that he took the decision to support the BJP, sources close to Gowda claim that he was not interested in trucking with his former coalition partner.
The Kumaraswamy faction had agreed to support the BJP earlier, but the governor had recommended that President's rule be imposed in Karnataka.
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