The BJP in Karnataka is waiting for a nod from its parliamentary board, which has yet to meet in Delhi, on government formation.

While state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa had projected himself as the next chief minister, he too was waiting for clearance from the national leadership.

Yeddyurappa drove to the RSS office in the morning and spent time with its leaders. “I came here to seek the blessings of senior RSS leaders,” he told journalists after the meeting.

“I am waiting for instructions from Delhi. We will meet the governor after a legislature party meeting that we will hold any time,” he said, without giving a firm answer on by when he expected to be sworn in as chief minister.

One doubt in people’s mind is whether BJP would appoint a 76-year-old as the chief minister, when it did not give tickets to people above 75 in the general election.

The track was cleared for BJP once H.D. Kumaraswamy lost his confidence vote by six votes on Tuesday. While the coalition had the support of 99 members who were present in the House, BJP had 105.

Senior party leader Basavaraj Bommai told reporters outside the party office here that they were all waiting for the Central Parliamentary Board to meet in Delhi.

“Since the process ended here quite late evening yesterday, the CPB which is our highest decision-making body could not meet in Delhi. Since they are busy with the Parliament session, we have to wait,” said Bommai.

“The process of government formation will begin once we receive the CPB’s directions,” he added.

According to a BJP source, a few leaders would head to Delhi to meet national president Amit Shah.

He was however unsure about whether the swearing in would be held this week. “I don’t think so. It could even be held next week,” he said.

The party and the Prime Minister had projected Yeddyurappa as the BJP’s face for chief minister ahead of the 2018 state election. While one year has passed since then, and Yeddyurappa is that much older, there have been voices seeking a younger chief minister.

Among those who “could” be considered by the national leadership are Lok Sabha member Ramesh Jigajinagi and Govind Karjol, deputy leader of the party in the state Assembly, said the source.

The BJP was also waiting to see if Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar would disqualify 17 rebels — 13 from Congress, three from JDS and R. Shankar, the Independent who had allegedly merged his regional party with Congress when he was minister on June 14.

Among the Congress rebels awaiting the Speaker’s decision is Shrimant Patil who got himself hospitalised in Mumbai on the day Kumaraswamy moved the confidence motion. While he had claimed he suffered a cardiac complication, the party went ahead with its complaint.

Since Kumar would continue to be the speaker until BJP elects its own candidate for the office, he was expected to take a call on complaints from Congress and JDS against the rebels ignoring party whips.

If disqualified they would not be able to become ministers unless they win in the by-elections to be held within six months.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that the whip is not applicable to the resigned MLAs. But we are confident that the rebel MLAs won’t be disqualified. In case they get disqualified, they will get re-elected,” BJP lawmaker CT Ravi told reporters.

A Congress official said counsels of the rebels attended a hearing held at the speaker’s office today.