Bengaluru, May 19:  In a major setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka, the high-voltage drama in Karnataka took another twist after Chief Minister, B S Yeddyurappa resigned from his Chief Minister post on Saturday.  The BJP Chief Minister, who was sworn in on Thursday could not gather the support of MLAs to prove majority in the state assembly during the floor test on Saturday.

The BJP was eight short of the majority mark in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. BJP had won the first round of the legal battle after the results were out o May 15 but failed to gather the support of MLAs to prove majority in the Karnataka state Assembly. Since the numbers are not in favour of the BJP, Yeddyurappa stepped down from his post today, saying that he is thankful for the love and support people gave him. "The election results are now out. Today is the floor test. Think for once, if we had 113, the picture would have been different," BS Yeddyurappa said.

The results of the Karnataka Assembly Elections threw up a fractured mandate on the counting day and led to political instability in the state. On May 15, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, followed by the Congress with 78, JD(S) with 37. Three seats were bagged by independent candidates in the 224-member Assembly where elections were held for 222 seats.

According to a tweet by ANI, BJP MLA G Somashekhar Reddy is with the two ‘missing’ Congress MLAs Anand Singh and Pratap Gouda. While the MLAs took oath on Saturday morning, the Congress released two audio tapes that it said proved that the ruling BJP was trying to bribe its MLAs to raise numbers before the floor test.

The audio clip purportedly shows Yeddyurappa trying to influence MLAs to switch sides. In one of the audio clip, Yeddyurappa was heard trying to influence MLAsHirekerur legislator BC Patil. The clip tells that Patil is being promised a ministerial post if he joins the BJP.

Yeddyurappa and former CM Siddaramaiah of the Congress legislature party, say they are confident of their numbers. Meanwhile, the Congress and the Janata Dal SDal-Secular have alleged that the BJP is trying to poach their legislators (MLAs) in order to win the floor test. If Yeddyurappa doesn't get a majority in the Assembly, he will have to resign from his Chief Ministerial post.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ordered a floor test in the Karnataka Assembly at 4 PM on Saturday. The 15-day window that was given to BJP Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa by the Governor Vajubhai Patel was drastically slashed. According to a report by PTI, the majority mark was 112 seats and the post-poll alliance strength of the Congress-JD(S) combine, which claims to have 117 MLAs and has alleged foul play in the Governor inviting BJP to form the government.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 19, 2018 04:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).