More than six months after the assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finally elected the leader of the opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. Prominent Vokkaliga community leader and former Deputy Chief Minister, R Ashoka, representing the Padmanabhanagar constituency in Bengaluru, has been entrusted with the responsibility of Leader of the Opposition. The decision was formalized during the BJP Legislature Party meeting convened at the ITC Hotel in Bengaluru on Friday evening.
The meeting, presided over by the newly appointed BJP state unit president BY Vijayendra, was attended by high command observers Nirmala Seetharaman and Dushyant Kumar. Key party figures, including former Chief Ministers BS Yeddyurappa and Basavaraja Bommai, former minister Kota Srinivasa Pujari, and state BJP unit organizing secretary Rajesh, participated in the decision-making process.
During the meeting, Dushyant Kumar Gautam and B.S. Yeddyurappa delivered instructions from the High Command concerning the selection of the opposition leader. Yeddyurappa proposed, while former CM Basavaraja Bommai recommended the announcement of R Ashoka’s name, a suggestion later approved by former minister Sunil Kumar.
Ahead of the Legislative Party meeting, high command observers met with party leaders, briefing them about the decisions made by the leadership. However, the announcement of R Ashoka as the Leader of the Opposition led to an expression of discontent, prompting MLAs Basanagowda Patil Yatnal and Ramesh Jarakiholi to walk out before the BLP meeting.
Responding to the discontent, Aravida Bellada clarified that no one boycotted the BLP meeting, and the observers collected individual opinions. He emphasized the presence of more MLAs from North Karnataka.
In a notable absence, ST Somasekhar, MLA from Bengaluru’s Yeshwanthpur constituency, was not present at the Legislative Party meeting.
List of MLAs who attended the meeting: Gopaliah, Suresh Kumar, SR Vishwanath, Satish Reddy, Cement Manju, Harish Poonja, S Muniraju, Suresh Gowda, Basavaraj Bommai, Shailendra Beldale, Jyoti Ganesh, Basavaraj Mattimood, Arvind Bellad, Dodna Gowda Patil, Abhay Patil, Manjula Limbavali, CC Patil, Channabasappam M Krishnappa, Sunil Kumar, Chandrappa, Munirathna, Siddu Savadi, Bhagirathi Murulya.
Members of the Legislative Council who attended the meeting: MK Pranesh, Suja Kushalappa, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, N Ravikumar, Keshav Prasad, Ganapathy Ulvekar, Tulsi Muniraju Gowda, Shasheel Namoshi, A Devegowda, YA Narayanaswamy, Pratap Simha Naik, Rudregowda, Raghunath Rao Malkapure.
