Yeddyurappa, who led the party to victory in the recent assembly polls, took oath in the name of farmers and God on his second innings as Chief Minister, a post from which he was unceremoniously toppled six months ago, a week after assuming office when its erstwhile ally, JDS, withdrew support.

However, Yeddyurappa, 66, had to do a balancing act to form his ministry today as he inducted five independents to be part of his 30-member cabinet to cross the magic figure of 113 in the 224-member Assembly. Though BJP emerged victorious at the hustings, winning 110 seats, it fell short of a simple majority, necessitating to seek support of the independents.

The 29 who were sworn-in as cabinet rank ministers are: Govind M Karjol, K S Eswarappa, V S Acharya, Mamtaz Alikhan, C M Udasi, R Ramachandra Gowda, R Ashok, S A Ravindranath, G Janardhana Reddy, Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, B N Bacchegowda, G Karunakara Reddy, Basavaraj Bommai, Shobha Karandlaje, B Sreeramulu, S Suresh Kumar, Krishna Palemar, Revunaik Bilamagi, Venkataramanappa, Aravind Limbavali, Krishnaiah Shetty, P M Narendra Swamy, H Halappa, D Sudhakar, Goolihatti D Shekar, M Rudrappa Nirani, Lakshman Savadi, S K Bellubbi and Shivaraj Tangadagi.

Governor Rameshwar Thakur administered the oath of office and secrecy to Yeddyurappa and 29 ministers on the portals of the Vidhan Soudha, the state secretariat.