The Karnataka election was held on May 12. Results were declared on May 15 (File)
The Congress has sought an appointment with President Ram Nath Kovind on behalf of like-minded opposition parties to brief him about the Karnataka governor inviting the BJP to form government in the southern state, even though the assembly election ended in split verdict.
A person familiar with the matter in the Congress said though the party has sought an appointment with President Kovind tomorrow, they are likely to meet him next week after the
floor test tomorrow of the BS Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala had given the BJP 15 days to prove majority. The Congress and the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) had moved the Supreme Court against the decision of Mr Vala to invite Mr Yeddyurappa to form the government in Karnataka.
People familiar with the matter said all like-minded opposition parties are seeking to highlight to the President the Karnataka governor's move of inviting the BJP to form the government, even though the BJP does not have the numbers.
The BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats in the Karnataka assembly, was invited by Mr Vala to form the government despite the
JDS-Congress combine asking it should be called to form the government as it had the support of 117 legislators (MLAs).
The majority mark is 112 seats. The election was held for all but two of the 224 seats. Mr Yeddyurappa took oath as chief minister in Bengaluru on Thursday.
The parties, including Lalu Yadav's RJD, want to highlight to the President that different rules are being
cited in different states over government formation.
"If we are given a chance, we can easily clear the floor test. We have a total of 111 MLAs and some unhappy JD(U) MLAs are in contact with us. We don't have MLAs in our party or alliance who will take U-turn like Nitish Kumar," RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said.
They say that even though the RJD is the single-largest party in Bihar, its case was not allegedly considered by the governor. A similar situation was seen in Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya, the opposition said.
With inputs from PTI