In a shameful major development in the politics, B S Yeddyruppa has been sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka despite not having majority numbers. The vote of Congress and JD(S) which has formed an alliance is 117, more than the magical number of 112. BJP has won 104 seats. The BJP’s irrational insistence that it will form a government in Karnataka, even though it clearly doesn’t have the numbers, is to make a mockery of our Constitution and while the BJP celebrates its hollow victory, India will mourn the defeat of democracy. With this illegal and cheating move by the BJP, their dirty intentions among the people of India have been exposed and the time is not far off when they have to pay very heavy political price in the 2019 general elections.
— Bhagwan Thadani, Mumbai
Though, as the largest single Party in the Karnatak Assembly, the BJP has been invited to explore the possibilities of forming the next government, they will face an uphill task in securing the support of the 8 MLAs required to reach the halfway mark. Before crossing the floor, these turncoats can very well extract their pound of flesh. In performing this tightrope walk, the BJP has to take care not to disregard the legitimate claims of those loyal BJPians who have remained steadfastly faithful to the Party's core ideology.
— Arun Malankar, Santa Cruz
There was no element of doubt that the Governor would call only the BJP in Karnataka on the ground that it is the 'Single Largest Party' ignoring the claims of the united Congress+JD(S) who have 78+38+1=117 as against the BJP who has much less with 105. In Goa and Meghalaya, the Congress was the Single Largest Party (SLP) and BJP was only second notwithstanding which was allowed to form the government, with the support of independents without giving any opportunity to the SLP, that is, Congress then. This was not long, long ago but was only during last year in 2017. Now the Governor did not chose to follow the 'precedence' set by the Goa Governor merely a year ago to facilitate the BJP who was second. There is no way for the BJP to form the government, unless their backroom managers 'approach' either Congress or the JD(S) MLAs with 'requests' to support to support them. BJP will not hesitate to do that and form the government at any cost. T
— T.M. Uday Shankar, Hyderabad.
The Karnataka verdict is loud and clear - Modi is invincible and that Modi wave is still intact even after four years! In State after State, through ballot, people have sent out an explicit and unambiguous message to leaders of opposition parties that they have unshaken faith in the dynamic leadership of Modi and that they fully endorse his bold economic policies taken in national interest. World bank continues to sing India's growth story. Leaders of advanced countries rolled out red carpet to welcome Modi. Many Islamic countries in Gulf conferred their highest Civilian Award on Modi. The World Economic Forum invited Modi to address it - a first for any Indian PM. Yet, leaders of disparate and desperate opposition parties, many of whom lost their ill-gotten wealth because of Demonetization, continue to spew venom at Modi. A former PM under whose very nose multiple massive scams took place for 10 years took objection to Modi's Hubli speech while he had no decency or guts to criticize his own partymen when they abused Modi who is the Premier of our country elected by a massive mandate in 2014. The politically matured people of Karnataka have sent out a loud message to Rahul Gandhi. That neither his constant Modi-bashing nor the divisive politics of his party can revive the political fortune of the grand old party of Indian polity. It's time for him to do some constructive work to win back the confidence of Indian electorate.
— Prof Keshav H. Karkera, Mumbai
Governor should be impartial but dirty politics is at play in Karnataka as Modi loyalist Vajubhai Vala invites BJP to form the govt in the State in spite of the party having 104 MLAs which is 8 short of a simple majority. Post poll alliance between Congress-JDS had 116 legislators but governor uses his illogical discretion which would now favour horse trading, only way by which a majority can be proven at the floor of house. Also, unprecedent 15 days to prove majority too one thought was undemocratic as this is too long a period which again favours a party without a majority to indulge in corrupt ways to inch past the half way mark by undemocratic means. One country but different rules for different states is what weakens the Constitution where rules and laws should be equal for all. Hung assemblies where minority party's and independent MLAs dictate terms is bad for democracy. President's Rule for six months and re-elections after that are better options to install a stable government in Karnataka and hope the highest court of our land take appropriate action to save the biggest democracy of the world from becoming a banana republic!
— S.N.Kabra, Goregaon