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Journalism of Courage
Karnataka BJP to boycott Assembly Speaker poll, fields Council chief candidate
Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka claimed that the Congress high command had already announced the Speaker's name in a letter.
Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said the BJP was boycotting the Speaker election. (File Photo)
The Opposition BJP said on Thursday that it would boycott the election to pick the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, even as it and the JD(S) nominated a candidate for the Legislative Council chairperson post despite lacking the numbers in the Upper House. Both polls will be held on Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said the BJP was boycotting the election because the Congress high command had already announced the Speaker’s name in a letter.
“The House has sovereignty and the MLAs have the right. But the Congress party has unconstitutionally mentioned the name of the Speaker to be selected on its letterhead. The fake Gandhi family of Delhi has usurped the sovereignty of the House. A new tradition of announcing the Speaker’s name on the party list has been started. Even though the Speaker should be elected by the House, he has been elected by the party itself. This is an anti-democratic policy,” the BJP leader said.
Congress nominees for the Speaker and deputy Speaker posts—G S Patil and Mankal Vaidya, respectively—are expected to win easily because the party has a clear majority in the Assembly.
Tempers are expected to flare during the election for the chairperson and deputy chairperson posts in the Legislative Council. BJP MLC Basavaraj Horatti was asked by the government to step down as chairperson earlier this month after the Congress secured a majority in the House following the polls to seven MLC seats held in June. He was the first Legislative Council chairperson since 1956 to resign pre-term.
The Congress has picked Saleem Ahmed for the chairperson post and Umashree as the deputy chairperson candidate. The BJP-JD(S) coalition has fielded BJP MLC P H Pujar as the chairperson candidate. Both sides’ candidates filed their nominations on Thursday.
Earlier, Opposition MLCs petitioned Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot against Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and other Congress leaders for allegedly forcing Horatti to step down as Legislative Council chairperson. He quit on August 7.
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