Karnataka floor test tomorrow: Yeddyurappa says 100% confident; top updates

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The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) B S Yeddyurappa, sworn in as KarnatakaGovernment chief minister a day before, on Friday said he would obey the Supreme Court’s direction to face a floor test at 4 pm on Saturday. He was confident that he would be able to prove a majority, he added.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court reduced the 15-day window the BJP had been given by Governor Vajubhai Vala to prove its majority in the House and ordered that Yeddyurappa face a floor test on Saturday itself. The court was hearing the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) combine's plea challenging the Governor's decision to invite the BJP to form the next government in the state after the May 12 Assembly election threw up a fractured mandate. Even as Yeddyurappa said he was 100 per cent confident of proving full majority, the Congress termed the apex court's judgment "historic".

The hearing came after the apex court issued notices to the Karnataka government and Yeddyurappa seeking their replies on the plea filed by the Congress and JD(S), which have opposed Yeddyurappa's swearing-in and termed Governor Vajubhai Vala's decision to invite the BJP to form the government as "unconstitutional". Meanwhile, the Congress on Friday observed 'Save Democracy Day' across the country

Yeddyurappa sworn in as Karnataka CM: Rahul, Shah trade charges; updates

The political battle over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B S Yeddyurappa taking oath as Karnataka Chief Minister intensified on Thursday with both Congress and BJP accusing each other of 'murdering democracy'.

The Congress on Wednesday had termed Karnataka Governor's decision to invite BJP to form government as "murder of democracy and trampling of Constitution".

Responding to the accusation, BJP President Amit Shah today said, "The 'Murder of Democracy' happens the minute a desperate Congress made an 'opportunist' offer to the JD(S), not for Karnataka's welfare but for their petty political gains. Shameful!."

Addressing a rally in Chhatisgarh's Raipur, Congress President Rahul Gandhi launched a fresh attack on BJP-led government in the Centre saying Constitution was under "severe attack" in the country where an atmosphere of fear prevailed.

He also compared the current state of democratic institutions with those of Pakistan. "RSS is making way into all institutions in the country. Aisa Pakistan ya tanashahi mein hota hai (such things happen in Pakistan)," Rahul Gandhi said.