Bangalore, Nov 11 (IANS) B.S. Yeddyurappa of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will take oath Monday as chief minister while its coalition partner Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) Sunday decided that its nominees will join the ministry later.
The two parties had earlier stated that along with Yeddyurappa, a JD-S nominee would be sworn in as deputy chief minister.
However, in a surprise move that created anxiety in the BJP camp, a meeting of the JD-S legislators decided that none from the party would take oath along with Yeddyurappa.
Presided over by JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda, the meeting also failed to agree on the party’s deputy chief ministerial candidate.
A majority of the legislators favour Deve Gowda’s son and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy taking up that post. However, Kumaraswamy’s elder brother H.D. Revanna is also a strong contender though the legislators are opposed to him.
“Senior leaders of the party will meet Sunday evening to decide the deputy chief ministerial nominee,” Kumaraswamy told reporters.
He said that on Monday only Yeddyurappa will be sworn in and JD-S nominees will join the ministry at a later date.
Yeddyurappa will become the BJP’s first chief minister in south India when he is sworn in by Governor Rameshwar Thakur in the presence of a host of the party’s national leaders – president Rajnath Singh, L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Yashwant Sinha.
Tens of thousands of BJP members from across Karnataka are expected to be present at the ceremony on the steps of the stately Vidhana Soudha (the state secretariat) in the heart of the city.
With over 50,000 people expected to converge there for the swearing in at noon, traffic movement in several parts of Bangalore is expected to be severely affected though the city police say they have made elaborate arrangement to ensure minimum disruption.