BENGALURU: A hundred days on, and the BJP is yet to elect a Leader of the Opposition (LOP). The BJP will enter history books as the only party in the state to go without an elected LOP for so long in Assembly and Council.
There are many privileges an Opposition leader enjoys, especially when the House is in session. The party stands to lose these privileges if it doesn’t appoint a leader in either House, said a former BJP minister. While there is talk that appointments of the opposition leader has not happened because of a trust deficit between the BJP factions — one led by BL Santhosh and the other by BS Yediyurappa.
When the BJP core committee met on Monday, there was an air of expectation that the party can be resurrected in the state through unity and trust among the leaders, but that has not happened, said a source. The decision of appointing an Opposition leader lies with the central leadership, and the party’s local leaders are surprised that it has not happened so far. BJP sources told TNIE,
“While National General Secretary B L Santosh was here, sources close to his group had stated that CT Ravi and Basanagouda Yatnal would be nominated president and LOP respectively, but that was not accepted by the BJP high command.” “Congress Working President and chief whip MLC Saleem Ahmed said, “It is most unfortunate that in a democracy, the main opposition party has not appointed an opposition leader in either House.
Although it is an internal matter of the BJP, it is an issue of concern that it is not able to appoint an opposition leader in either the assembly or council. Sad to say but it only reflects the state of affairs of the party.’’ The Indian legislative system is modelled after the British parliamentary system, where the opposition leader is called a shadow PM and vacancy reflects a vacuum in leadership of the party.