Awaiting instruction from top leadership on forming govt: Yeddyurappa
Bengaluru, Jul 24: BJP's Karnataka president B S Yeddyurappa said Wednesday he was awaiting instructions from his party central leadership on staking claim to form an alternative government in the state.
The 14-month old Congress-JDS coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy collapsed on Tuesday after losing the vote of confidence in the assembly in a climax to three-week long intense power struggle.
"I'm awaiting instructions from Delhi. I can call legislature party meeting any time and go to Raj Bhavan (to stake claim).
I'm waiting for it," Yeddyurappa told reporters after meeting RSS leaders at its state headquarters "Keshava Krupa" here.
Noting that it was because of the blessings and cooperation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he has grown from taluk to state level to become Chief Minister, he said, "I have come here to take blessings from elders of Sangh Parivar before taking next step."
Soon after the JDS-Congress government lost the vote of confidence in the assembly, Yeddyurappa Tuesday had said he will meet the governor after consulting the party central leaders.
He had also written to BJP national president Amit Shah last night.
"I am very much elated and pleased to disclose to you that we have defeated the confidence motion moved by the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy paving the way for the formation of our party government in Karnataka," Yeddyurappa's letter toShah read.
Stating that party's 105 members stood like a "rock" with the party at this juncture, he said, "We had a testing time for the last couple of days for various political reasons, but overcame all those critical moments before defeating the confidence motion.
"Now more than we the party members, people of the stateare a relieved lot as they were fed up with the bad governance of the coalition setup," Yeddyurappa in his letter added.
Senior BJP legislator J C Madhuswamy said, "party national president Amit Shah has to instruct us to call a legislature party meeting in the presence of an observer to elect the leader."
He said "things have to go democratically as ours is a national party, so we are waiting for instructions from them, after that appointment with Governor will be sought."
In the trial of legislative strength, Kumaraswamy had garnered 99 votes against the 105 by the BJP.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
