NEW DELHI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The right-wing Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader B.S. Yeddyurappa met Governor Vajubhai Vala Friday in India's southwestern state of Karnataka and staked a claim to form government, officials said.
Yeddyurappa said he had staked a claim to form government in Karnataka and would be sworn in Friday evening.
"Just now I met the governor to form government and take oath as chief minister. The government has agreed and the oath ceremony will take place between 6:00 p.m. and 6:15 p.m.," Yeddyurappa told reporters after meeting Vala.
Yeddyurappa's announcement comes three days after the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition failed a trust vote in the state's lawmaking body.
Yeddyurappa has served the chief minister of Karnataka three times but has never completed a term before. The 76-year-old leader's last stint was just 48 hours long. Sworn immediately after the Karnataka election in May last year, he resigned before a trust vote, knowing he was not having the required numbers.
Following his resignation from Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular (JDS), the Congress forged a coalition to keep the BJP out of power.
The BJP has moved again one day after the Karnataka Speaker disqualified three of the 17 rebel lawmakers whose exit brought down the 14-month Congress-JDS coalition.
The disqualifications brought down the strength of the House to 221, and the majority mark slides to 112 while the BJP has support of 105 members.
