Karnataka election 2018: It’s Ramesh vs Suresh for speaker

BENGALURU: BJP sprang a surprise on Thursday by deciding to contest Friday’s election for the post of speaker, lending an interesting twist to the trust vote to be sought by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy later in the day.


Acting on directions from party bosses in New Delhi, BJP’s five-time MLA from Rajajinagar S Suresh Kumar filed his nomination on Thursday forcing an election for the speaker’s post for the first time ever in Karnataka. There is, however, the possibility of him pulling back from the contest just as Yeddyurappa did on Saturday when faced with a floor test and inadequate numbers.

The house is slated to assemble at 12.15pm on Friday and immediately take up the election of the speaker.

With 104 members in its ranks, BJP stands no chance of winning the post unless 14 members from Congress and JD(S) cross-vote for Suresh. Given that both parties are closely guarding their flock, a cross vote is highly unlikely.

“We know we don’t have the numbers to win the speaker’s post but we want to register our protest against the unholy alliance between Congress and JD(S) by contesting the election and expose the opportunistic politics of the two parties,” said BJP MLA and party spokesperson CT Ravi.

It is being said that BJP will boycott the trust vote after the speaker’s election.

Congress, on the other hand, has cited precedents and appealed to BJP to allow the speaker to be elected unanimously. “The speaker’s post is a non-political and constitutional post. He belongs to no party. So I appeal to BJP MLAs to elect our nominee KR Rameshkumar unanimously,” said deputy chief minister G Parameshwara. Ramesh Kumar, MLA from Srinivasapur, is a former minister and speaker.

Alleging that BJP is still trying to poach Congress and JD(S) MLAs, Parameshwara said; “I have been receiving calls that some Congress MLAs are being lured. But none of our MLAs will fall prey to this. They are all united. I am confident that we will pass the floor test.”

All set for floor test

Chief minster HD Kumaraswamy is all set to take the floor test on Friday and confident of sailing through. The atmosphere remained rather calm on the eve of the trust vote with Congress-JD(S) confident of the “verdict” and BJP resigned to it. Both Congress and JD(S) held their respective legislature party meetings and instructed MLAs on their role in the floor test. Both parties are expected to issue whips to bind MLAs to their decision.

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