New Delhi: B.S. Yeddyurappa’s three-day tenure as the chief minister of the southern Indian state of Karnataka turned out to be one of the shortest in Indian history.
The 75-year-old BJP leader was sworn in as the chief minister of Karnataka on May 17. He resigned before facing a Supreme Court-mandated floor test on Saturday.
The BJP veteran’s initiation to the league of chief ministers with tenures of a few days, however, happened over a decade ago. In 2007, Yeddyurappa had to resign as the chief minister of Karnataka after just eight days.
Jagdambika Pal held the shortest tenure as chief minister in Uttar Pradesh in 1998. After the Kalyan Singh government was dismissed, Pal was sworn in as the chief minister late at night on February 21, a decision that was reversed by the high court the next morning, leading him to be dubbed as “the one-day CM”.
Among others who could sit on the chief minister’s chair for barely a few days are Satish Prasad Singh in Bihar. He was made an interim chief minister for only five days from 28 January to 1 February in 1968. He had brought the Congress back to power in the state by defeating the Jana Kranti Dal government.
B P Mandal, the leader who succeeded Singh, too could hold on to the post for just 31 days.
In Haryana, Om Prakash Chautala had served as the chief minister for a period of five days in July 1990 and for 14 days in 1991.
Similarly in Meghalaya, veteran Congress leader S C Marak remained in power only for 13 days in 1998.
After the demise of M G Ramachandran — the founder of the AIADMK — in Tamil Nadu, her widow Janaki Ramachandran had a brief tenure of 23 days as the chief minister in January 1988.
In Kerala, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader C H Mohammad Koya could enjoy the post of chief minister for 45 days in 1979. He was the shortest serving CM of the state and its only Muslim one.
