Modi’s party loses face in power game

Bengaluru - BJP’s CM quits before a certain defeat in Karnataka floor test.

The chief minister of India’s southern Karnataka state quit on Saturday after just two days in office, rather than face a confidence vote his minority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was unlikely to win.
Karnataka BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had been sworn in as the chief minister on Thursday, resigned rather than prove that he had the support of a majority of the legislators.
The BJP, which rules 21 of India’s 29 states, emerged as the single largest party in Karnataka, but its 104 seats left it short of a majority. Karnataka, home to India’s technology hub of Bengaluru, is the only southern state where the BJP has held power.
In an emotional speech carried live by most Indian TV news channels, Yeddyurappa said his party would now work towards increasing the number of parliamentary seats for the BJP in the state to help Modi’s re-election bid.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi hailed Yeddyurappa’s decision as a victory. “I am proud that they have been shown that in India power, corruption and money is not everything but the will of people is everything,” he said.
Some analysts, however, said the Karnataka developments were unlikely to hurt the prospects of Modi’s BJP next year, but investors will be closely watching elections in three other major states this year. “The impact of the Karnataka political outcome will be short-lived,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services. “From now on, till elections to Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh later this year, economics will dictate the direction of the market (rather) than politics.”

• India