Karnataka Election Result 2018: Congress, JDS MLAs troop out from Bengaluru to Hyderabad in a bus to 'stop horse trading'

Midnight action spilled over into the wee hours of Friday as Congress MLAs holed up in Eagleton resort and JD(S) MLAs in Shangri La hotel in Bengaluru hopped on a bus and made their way to Hyderabad, nearly 600 km away.

"We have to take some caution. To stop horse-trading, they (MLAs) are moving together. All MLAs(JD(S) Congress) are travelling in the bus, they are going to stay in the same place", H D Kumaraswamy of JDS told reporters.

The strength of the Karnataka Assembly is 224; elections were held for 222 seats. The Congress-JDS combine which is claiming that its sum total of 116 MLAs (78 Congress + 38 JDS) after the Karnataka Assembly elections is a "clear majority".

This post-poll tie up is falling back to the tried and tested method of what's come to be called "resort politics" - holing up where poachers loaded with money have a harder time getting in. BS Yeddyurappa took oath Thursday at a low-key function at the Governor's House in Bengaluru but this BJP government will still have to prove strength in a floor test.

The BJP, with 104 MLAs, has been given first dibs at power even as the Congress-JDS combine has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka Governor's decision to invite the BJP to form the state government.

BS Yeddyurappa and Siddaramaiah. PTI/Getty images

The Congress-JDS tie-up managed to get a three judge bench to hear their petition for nearly four hours starting 1:45 am Thursday and the case continues with a Friday hearing. The Supreme Court did not stay the swearing in of newly minted Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa but said it (Yeddyurappa's hold on the CM chair) would be "subject to the outcome of the case".