Karnataka legislative council session extended, polls for chairman on Tuesday

An order by the Karnataka Governor’s office stated that the nomination for the chairman’s elections will be held on February 8.

The ongoing session of the Karnataka legislative council, that was scheduled to conclude on Friday, has been extended till February 10 as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular) alliance aims to complete the election process of a new chairman to the upper house.

File photo: CM Yediyurappa in Karnataka Legislative Council. (PTI )

The two parties are now likely to further cement their alliance in the state and the upper house as the BJP has agreed to nominate and back Basavaraj Horatti’s bid to become the chairman.

“I have been nominated by our party for the post of chairman,” Horatti said on Friday.

An order by the Karnataka Governor’s office stated that the nomination for the chairman’s elections will be held on February 8 and voting will be held the following day.

“The party has decided to back Horatti,” Kavatagimatt Mahantesh Mallikarjun of the BJP confirmed.

The developments come barely a day after Pratapchandra Shetty of the Congress tendered his resignation as chairman after repeated bids by the BJP and JD(S) to unseat him over the last two months.

The Congress had tried to push the no-confidence motion against Shetty to a vote to help “expose” the JD(S) and its alliance with the BJP.

The Congress called JD(S) a party of convenience which will side with the highest bidder.

“We will conclude the elections and Horatti will be made chairman, otherwise there was a chance of the JD(S) moving towards the Congress and that would have wasted all our efforts so far,” said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity.

MK Pranesh of the BJP was elected as deputy chairman of the upper house with the backing of the JD(S) in the ongoing session.