Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala is set to invite the JD (S) - Congress combine to prove its majority on the floor of the house anytime soon as the scene shifts to the next round of post-poll developments.
On a day of rapid developments which could have gone either way for the warring parties, the BJP blinked first, making it clear that it didn't have enough numbers to win the trust vote in the Karnataka assembly.
After announcing that he was going to resign from the post of chief minister, B S Yeddyurappa said that the voters had given a clear mandate to the BJP and hence he had exercised the right to form the government. "If the voters had given us 113 seats instead of 104, we would have converted Karnataka into a paradise," he said.
Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Governor had given a long rope and that the party had proof of BJP leaders soliciting legislators from the opposition camp with money and cabinet berths. "The rule of the law has won. Manipulations don't work at all. The MLAs resisted all the temptations of the Centre and the State, stuck to the party. They have saved democracy," he pointed out.
Common minimum programme
Former chief minister, Siddaramaiah said the Opposition should have been given an opportunity to reply to Yeddyurappa's speech. He admitted that even though there was no pre-poll alliance between the Congress and the JD (S), both the parties had come together after the polls to take on communal forces. He said within the next few days, both the parties will come out with a common minimum programme.