Cong fields K C Kondaiah for Karnataka Council Deputy Chairman

The Congress in Karnataka onThursday decided to field senior party leader K C Kondaiah asits candidate for the post of Deputy Chairman in the state'sLegislative Council to ''expose'' the JD(S) which has decided toback the ruling BJP nominee.

The BJP has fielded M K Pranesh as its candidate and isconfident of winning the Deputy Chairman election scheduledfor Friday, with support from the JD(S).

According to top Congress sources, the party hasdecided to field Kondaiah despite slim chances of his winning,with an intention to ''expose'' the JD(S).

''We will field our candidate for the DeputyChairman election, we are confident about getting consciencevotes.JD(S) goes to town claiming they're secularists, whosetrue colour is what will get exposed in this election,''Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Leader Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah has been repeatedly targeting theregional party questioning its secular credentials citingCongress leader Rahul Gandhi terming it as 'B team' of theBJP, during 2018 assembly polls.

According to party sources at the CLP meeting heldearlier today, KPCC President D K Shivakumar was not in favourof fielding a candidate for the Deputy Chairman's post.

However, Siddaramaiah is said to have insisted.

The post of the Deputy Chairman has fallen vacantfollowing JD(S)' S L Dharme Gowda's death allegedly by suicidelast month.

The BJP and JD(S) on Wednesday had decided to joinhands for the post of Karnataka Legislative Council Chairmanand Deputy Chairman.

As per the arrangement, the BJP will support the JD(S) for the Chairman post, while the regional party willreturn the favour by ceding the Deputy Chairman post.

Election for the post of Council Chairman is alsoexpected to take place during the ongoing session, as thereare indications that incumbent K Pratapachandra Shetty, who isfrom the Congress, may resign soon, as the ruling BJP hasmoved a no-confidence motion against him and the JD(S) will besupporting it. PTI KSU BNWELCOME BNWELCOME