Horatti set to take Council chair, Congress puts up fight

BENGALURU: Janata Dal (Secular) MLC Basavaraj Horatti on Monday filed his nomination for the State Legislative Council chairman’s election, and is set to be elected on Tuesday.The ruling BJP, which is the single largest party in the Council with 31 MLCs, is supporting Horatti. The opposition Congress, with 28 members in the Council, fielded Naseer Ahmed as its candidate, with an objective of ensuring a contest. Monday was the last date for filing nominations for Tuesday’s election. 

Elections to the chairman’s post was necessitated after the resignation of Congress MLC Prathap Chandra Shetty. The BJP, with JDS support, had issued a notice to move a no-confidence motion against Shetty, following which he resigned on February 4. The Council had witnessed unruly scenes after Shetty had rejected the notice on a no-confidence motion issued by the BJP. The ruling party had issued the notice for the second time, and had the support of the JDS.

After it emerged as the single largest party in the Council after the recent elections, the BJP has joined hands with JDS to oust the chairman, and as per arrangement between the two parties, BJP MLC ML Pranesh was elected Deputy Chairman of the Council on January 29. The party is now backing a JDS member for the chairman’s post.Sources in the Congress said they have decided to field a candidate to ensure the election is not unanimous, and the JDS-BJP alliance is “exposed”.