There is uncertainty over the position of Legislative Council Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy as the Congress members on Tuesday submitted a notice seeking permission to table a no-confidence motion against him.
The notice, which was submitted to Council Secretary Srinivas, was signed by several Congress MLCs, including V.S. Ugrappa, H.M. Revanna, K.C. Kondaiah, R. Prasanna Kumar, and Abdul Jabbar.
In the 75-member Council, the Congress has strength of 35, including the support of three Independents while the BJP has only 23 members, including the support of an Independent member. The Janata Dal (S) has 14 members, including the support of an Independent member. Two seats are presently vacant.
Mr. Ugrappa alleged that the Congress workers were not happy with the style of functioning of Mr. Shankaramurthy. He said it was left to the Congress leadership to take a call on its nominee for the chairman’s post if Mr. Shankaramurthy was removed. Sources said that S.R. Patil and K.C. Kondaiah were in the race for the top post.
JD (S) role
The stand to be adopted by the JD(S) would be important as no party has an absolute majority in the House and JD(S) holds 14 seats. Party spokesperson Ramesh Babu said the JD(S) had “kept options open”.
