At least 129 legislators of Janata Dal (S) and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday elected BJP leader B S Yediyurappa as their leader and met Governor Rameshwar Thakur to prevail upon him to invite the new leader to form a new government.

The legislators, who went in four private buses, earlier met at a hotel and elected Yediyurappa as their leader. A copy of the resolution passed at the meeting was also submitted to the governor.

The governor gave a patient hearing to their plea and assured them that he would do the needful by sending a report to the Centre soon.

Later, emerging from the meeting, JD(S) state unit chief Meerajuddin Patel and BJP state unit president Sadananda Gowda told the media that they were hopeful that the governor would invite Yediyurappa to form the new government within 24 hours. The JD(S) also submitted a letter to the governor separately expressing unconditional support to BJP to form the government.