Congress joins hands with JD (S) to clinch Council Chairman’s post

The Congress and JD (S) have come together again in Karnataka to put it across the ruling BJP in the elections to the post of Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council scheduled for Tuesday.

At a meeting convened by JD (S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in Bangalore on Monday, a decision was taken to extend support to Congress party’s nominee Veeranna Mathikatti for the post of Chairman of Legislative Council.

Earlier, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting presided over by Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly M Mallikarjun Kharge decided to field Mathikatti, a member of the Legislative Council, for the coveted post of Chairman of the Upper House of the State Legislature.

The Congress has decided against fielding any candidate for the post of Deputy Chairman and left the same for its ally JD (S). The JD (S) is expected to field retired police officer and MLC Abdul Azeem for the post of Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council.

The BJP has fielded its party MLC Shashil G Namoshi for the post of Chairman of Legislative Council during Tuesday’s election.

The 75-member Karnataka Legislative Council has 29 Congress members, 23 BJP members and 12 JD (S) members. While five seats remain vacant, JD (U) and independents make up the rest.

Though the ruling BJP is in a minority in the Legislative Council, party leaders are pinning their hopes on cross-voting and abstention during the elections.
The BJP leaders are claiming that they had managed to woo a couple of JD (S) and Congress members besides a few independents ahead of the crucial polling on Tuesday