BENGALURU: BJP MLA Anand Chandrashekhar Mamani was on Tuesday elected as the Deputy Speaker of Legislative assembly.The Deputy Speaker’s election was necessitated after JDS MLA Krishna Reddy resigned from the post after ruling BJP members had moved a no-confidence motion against him. Reddy was elected to the post in 2018 when the JDS-Congress coalition government, headed by HD Kumaraswamy, was in power.CM BS Yediyurappa proposed 54-year-old Mamani’s name and he was elected unopposed.
Announcing his election, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri recalled Anand Mamani’s father Chandrasekhar Mamani’s contributions. “His father had served as deputy chairman of the assembly from 1996 to 1999. Now, Anand will be serving in the same position,” he said. JH Patel was the CM and BS Yediyurappa the opposition leader when Mamani senior was the Deputy Speaker.
Anand, a third-time BJP MLA from Saundatti assembly segment in Belagavi district, was an aspirant for a ministerial berth. He had even expressed displeasure over loyalists being ignored. “I consider this more important than a minister’s post. There is scope to earn himself a good name,” said Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai.