Karnataka Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar is resigning from the post on Monday paving the way for his induction into state Cabinet as part of the compromise formula evolved by central BJP leaders to end the recent crisis triggered by dissidents demanding change in leadership in the state.
Mr. Shettar was expected to be sworn-in as a Cabinet Minister on Tuesday. “He will formally resign on Monday,” a source close to him said on Sunday.
Mr. Shettar on Saturday said in Hubli that he would resign as the Speaker on November 16 and take oath as Minister either on November 17 or 18.
Dissidents spearheading the demand for removal of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa earlier this month had propped up the candidature of Mr. Shettar as the replacement.
It was no secret that Mr. Shettar, a former state BJP state unit president, had reluctantly become the Speaker in May last year when the first BJP Government in south was ushered in.
He saw the move as a ploy by Mr. Yeddyurappa to curtail his political growth as being the Speaker puts limitations on him of being active in politics.
Meanwhile, Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar denied his name was being considered for the Speaker’s post.
“No body has discussed it with me; neither have I any indication,” he told reporters here on Sunday.
