Lack of majority forced Yeddyurappa to quit: BJP
Bengaluru, May 19: The BJP on Saturday admitted that its Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa resigned as his government did not have the numbers for simple majority to win the trust vote in a hung Assembly.
"As we did not have the numbers (112) required to win the trust vote, our party leaders in Bengaluru and Delhi decided that Yeddyurappa should resign," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Vamanachrya told IANS here.
BJP leaders and Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar, Dharmendra Pradhan and Ananth Kumar were regularly in touch with the party's leadership in Delhi throughout the Assembly proceedings, he said.
"By 3 p.m., we have communicated to our leaders that we lost the battle and a decision was taken that Yeddyurappa has to resign. His resignation speech was prepared," added Vamanacharya.
He also denied allegations of the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) that the BJP had indulged in horse-trading.
"These allegations are being levelled against us since the election results came on Tuesday. If we would have gone for horse-trading, getting seven legislators on board was not a huge task. But we did not try and we stuck to honest politics like we always do," Vamanacharya said.
Yeddyurappa, 75, who announced his resignation on the floor of the House before the trust vote, drove to Raj Bhavan and submitted his resignation to Governor Vajubhai R. Vala.
The BJP won 104 seats in the May 12 assembly election held in 222 of the state's 224 constituencies, falling eight short of a simple majority.
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Pak police registers case against unidentified gunmen for opening fire on LeT co-founder
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Lahore (PTI): Pakistan's Punjab Police on Friday registered a case against unidentified gunmen for opening fire on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) co-founder Amir Hamza, who suffered bullet injuries in the attack in Lahore.
On Thursday, two unidentified gunmen riding on a bike opened fire on the vehicle of the private TV channel 24NewsHD TV, owned by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, on Peco Road in Lahore near the TV channel's office.
In the attack, Hamza suffered bullet injuries.
"The FIR has been registered against unidentified gunmen, but it is sealed forthwith," a senior police officer told PTI.
He said the intelligence agencies have taken over this case from the police, and they are currently investigating the matter.
The channel's religious programme host Justice (retd.) Nazir Ahmed Ghazi and Hamza were in the vehicle when it was attacked. Hamza was shifted to a hospital for treatment.
Punjab police on Friday said that "upon receiving information about the incident, the SSP Operations immediately reached the scene and a high alert was imposed in the area. SSP Operations Tauqeer Naeem also met the affected individuals. Thankfully, all present in the vehicle remained safe during the firing."
It further said senior police officers of the Township and Chung, along with a heavy police contingent, were present at the scene.
"Police collected evidence from the site and initiated an investigation. Efforts to arrest the suspects are underway using CCTV footage and geo-fencing techniques. Search and sweep operations are being conducted at various locations, with scrutiny of suspicious individuals ongoing," police said.
It added that those involved in the incident will be traced and arrested soon.
The police sources said that Hamza has been shifted to his residence in Jauhar Town, Lahore, where police and agency personnel met him.
The leadership of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), a political front of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD), including Hafiz Saeed's son Hafiz Talha Saeed, also called on him.
TV host retired Justice Ghazi, who remained unhurt in the attack, remained a legal counsel for Hafiz Saeed, they said.
The PMML has strongly condemned the attack on Hamza and demanded that those involved in the incident be arrested immediately.
Hamza is regarded as LeT's second most important leader after its chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019 after getting convicted for several years in terror financing cases.
Hamza has been designated as a terrorist by the US. In the past, he served as the head of LeT's "special campaigns" department.
In 2018, Hamza formed a fundraising group for the LeT following a ban on the JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation by the Pakistani government.
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