Surprise choice of Shetty has Horatti, Patil upset

Both of them were in the race for the post of Legislative Council Chairman

K. Prathapchandra Shetty, newly elected Legislative Council Chairman, being greeted by Basavaraj Horatti, who was the pro tem Chairman of the House, on Wednesday.

The election of senior Congress leader K. Prathapchandra Shetty as Chairman of the Legislative Council on Wednesday has not gone down well with the two leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress who were earlier in the race for the post.

Speaking to reporters after the election, JD(S) leader Basavaraj Horatti, who was the pro tem Chairman of the Council, accused the Congress of violating the “coalition dharma” by not giving the Chairman’s post to the JD(S). He said the Congress should not have insisted on the Chairman’s post as it had bagged the Assembly Speaker’s post.

Gowda’s call

Admitting that he was an aspirant for the top post in the Council, Mr. Horatti said his party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda had instructed him on Monday night over the phone from New Delhi that he should be prepared to file his nomination papers on Tuesday morning. But around 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday he was instructed by Mr. Gowda not to file the papers as the Congress wanted the post and Mr. Gowda had to concede to it.

“The demand by the Congress was not in good taste,” Mr. Horatti said, and added that Chief Minister H.D. Kumarasway was also upset with the development.

Citing an example of “coalition principle” maintained by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Narendra Modi, he said though the BJP got the absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a small party like the Lok Janshakti Party was not sidelined and its president Ram Vilas Paswan was accommodated in the Union Ministry.

There was discontent in the Congress camp as well. Speaking in the Council after the election, Congress member S.R. Patil, who was also a contender, said north Karnataka has been again denied a chance. Mr. Patil said while selecting leaders for the posts of Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and Speaker, north Karnataka was not given any representation. In the Upper House too north Karnataka has been ignored. He claimed that people of north Karnataka expected that in the Belagavi session the region would get a top position in the legislature. He, however, told Mr. Shetty that he was happier than him for the party choosing him for the Chairman’s post.