BENGALURU: Legislative Council Chairman’s election is likely to lead to a fresh round of bout between the coalition partners. Looks like the state Congress and the JD(S) leaders are in no mood to yield ground and are preparing to take the fight to the national capital. Election to the chairman’s post will be held early next week.
The Congress that has 35-members in the 75-member council is insisting that its leader S R Patil be made the chairman, while the JD(S), which has 14 members, is keen to elect its senior leader Basavaraj Horatti as the chairman. Horatti is currently officiating as the protem chairman of the council and notification for election of the new chairman is likely to be issued on Monday. The process will be completed during the ongoing budget session that will end on July 12.
“Many Congress MLCs are of the opinion that the chairman should be from our party,” KPCC Working President Eshwar Khandre told Express.
The Congress MLCs have also taken up the issue with the party high command insisting that it should not yield to coalition partner’s demand. Many Congress MLCs are miffed over not being inducted into the HD Kumaraswamy ministry and in no mood to allow JD(S) to get the chairman’s post, sources said.
The JD(S) too is not willing to give up. “During the Assembly Speaker’s election, it was decided that Congress will get Assembly speaker’s post and JD(S) will get Council chairman’s post. It was decided in a meeting attended by senior Congress leaders including K C Venugopal and G Parameshwara,” said JD(S) MLC T A Saravana.
The issue is being discussed with the state Congress leaders and if need be, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda will take up the issue with the Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the JD(S) leader added.
The JD(S) leaders are directly contacting the Congress high command bypassing the coordination committee headed by Siddaramaiah, set-up to ensure smooth functioning of the government. However, this time the Congress high command is likely to be more cautious as accepting coalition partner’s demand and giving council chairman’s post will be seen as a total surrender to the regional party, said a party source.