BENGALURU: Congress MLC Pratap Chandra Shetty was elected unopposed as chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council on Wednesday. The disappointment was writ large on the faces of two frontrunners for the post — Basavaraj Horatti of JD(S) and S R Patil of Congress — even as the newly-elected chairman presided over the session.
Despite the power-sharing agreement, the Congress was able to install its MLC as chairman after consultations with JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda. Party insiders suggest that Congress was able to convince its coalition partner to hand over the chairmanship at a price. In Siddaramaiah’s absence, Congress leaders are said to have picked Shetty over S R Patil on the suggestion of Deve Gowda.
The choice of Shetty came as a surprise for many within the Congress, with party insiders suggesting that the old guard of the party, led by G Parameshwara, successfully derailed coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah’s plans to push S R Patil’s candidature.
The decision to make Shetty the party’s candidate was conveyed to Siddaramaiah over the phone. “It was Siddaramaiah who demanded that Congress should get the chairmanship since we are the single largest party in the Council. He was backing S R Patil for the post, but Shetty was picked at the last minute,” said a source close to Siddaramaiah. Shetty’s candidature gained the approval of JD(S) and Congress central leadership, leaving little room for Siddaramaiah to disagree, sources said.
Leaders of the JD(S) suggest that the party had asked Congress to pick anyone except S R Patil as its candidate if it intended to keep the chair. The entire exercise, insiders suggest, was meant to send a message across to Siddaramaiah. The old guard of the Congress like Oscar Fernandes, M Veerappa Moily and Parameshwara, sources added, were happy to replace S R Patil — a staunch Siddaramaiah supporter — to keep the chair.
“It is just unfortunate that when the session is being held in North Karnataka, an MLC from this region wasn’t considered for the post,” said S R Patil.Pro-tem chairman Basavaraj Horatti also expressed disappointment. “None of us is a saint and we all have aspirations.”