Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Pratapchandra Shetty resigns

Karnataka Legislative CouncilChairman K Prathapachandra Shetty on Thursday announced hisresignation, paving the way for a joint candidate of BJP andJD(S) to take over the post.

Shetty, a Congress MLC, against whom the ruling BJP hasmoved a no-confidence motion and with JD(S) too expressingsupport to it, announced his resignation on the floor of theHouse before adjourning it for the day.

He subsequently submitted his resignation letter toDeputy Chairman M K Pranesh.

Shetty was elected as Chairman in 2018, when theCongress-JD(S) coalition government was in power.

With numbers clearly against him, Shetty decided toresign, sources said, the issue of his resignation is alsosaid to have come up for discussion during the CongressLegislature Party meeting held last evening.

With this, the path is now clear for senior JD(S) MLCBasavaraj Horatti to become the new Chairman of theLegislative Council, after following the process of election.

As per the arrangement between both parties BJP MLC M KPranesh was on January 29 elected as the Deputy Chairman ofthe Council, with the backing from JD(S), and the ruling partywill now return the favour by supporting the regional partyMLC Horatti for the Chairman post.

According to BJP sources the party agreed to supportHoratti as Chairman instead of seeking the post for itself inreturn for JD(S)' support in its move to oust Shetty andpassage of certain key bills.

The earlier move by both parties in December to removeShetty as Chairman was not successful as their notice of no-confidence was rejected on technical grounds.

The House had witnessed high drama that day with theBJP-JDS and Congress members hurling abuses and pushing eachother.

Amid the ruckus on December 15, the then Deputy ChairmanDharme Gowda, who is now no more, was even pulled down fromthe Chair.

Currently, the ruling BJP is the single largest party inthe Council with 31 seats, followed by Congress with 29(including Shetty), JD(S) 13, one independent and one vacant(due to death of Dharme Gowda).

Announcing his resignation, Shetty thanked MLCs for theirsupport during his tenure as the Chairman.

He said, ''The change in numerical strength of the Househas come to my notice.

Technically I have time till the next assembly to provemajority, but as someone who greatly values morality in lifeand not wanting to give opportunity for unnecessarydiscussions, I'm tendering my resignation as the Chairman andsubmitting it to the Deputy Chairman as per rules.'' Pointing to the December 15 ruckus in the House, Shettysaid that everyone should introspect to prevent suchincidents.

''Due to a game based on numbers, an unpleasant incidenttook place in the Council, which has hurt me deeply,'' he said,adding that he had not eyed any position of power in hispolitical career spanning 37 years.

Suggesting that the strength of the House should not bethe only parameter to elect the Chairman, Shetty said, itshould not be so, if the Chairman's keep changing just on thebasis of numbers repeatedly it would set a wrong precedent andmake it difficult for the smooth functioning of the House.