Senior Congress leader and MLC B.K. Hariprasad is likely to be appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council as the term of the incumbent, S.R. Patil, will end on January 5, 2022, and he is not contesting the elections scheduled for December 10.
Mr. Hariprasad, who served in various capacities in the Congress at the national level and as four-time Rajya Sabha member, is expected to get the Leader of the Opposition post in the Council in 2022.
The Congress is keen to utilise his vast experience in parliamentary affairs, according to party sources. Further, he has demonstrated his aggressiveness in taking on the BJP Government.
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Two other senior leaders and members in the contention are the former Minister B.R. Thimmapur and former KPCC president and former Minister Allum Veerabhadrappa. Since the term of both the MLCs would end on June 14, 2022, they are unlikely to get the post, sources said.
Mr. Hariprasad’s term would end on June 30, 2026, and since he has a long term as the member, the party high command is expected to clear his name for the post of the Leader of the Opposition. Moreover, Mr. Hariprasad is apparently close to KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar and this would further boost his chances in getting the coveted post in the Council, sources in the party maintained.
Mr. Hariprasad contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1999 and 2019 from Bengaluru South and lost both times to the BJP candidate. In 1999, he lost to the former Union Minister late Ananth Kumar, while in 2019 he was defeated by Tejasvi Surya. He was the candidate of the united Opposition for the post of the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and lost to Harivansh Narayan Singh of the NDA.
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