Post BJP-JD(S) alliance, Pratap Shetty presents his resignation for Karnataka Legislative Council Head

Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman K Pratap Chandra Shetty presented his resignation from the post on Thursday and will be succeeded probably by Senior JD(S) leader Basavaraj Horatti with the coalition formed between BJP and JD(S), which will outnumber Congress.

On January 29, MK Pranesh representing BJP was appointed for the post of Deputy Chairman of the Council synchronizing with the same arrangement. The election was conducted due to the death of Deputy Chairman SL Dharmegowda who represents JD(S).

In the present scenario, the ruling party BJP has the maximum number of seats 31, after which Congress takes the lead with 29 followed by JD(S) with 13 seats. Shetty was priorly going to resign in 2020, when Congress lost its majority, however on pestering of Siddaramaiah, he had continued with the responsibility.

The December 15 ruckus in the Council had triggered Shetty to submit the resignation when the BJP-JD(S) coalition were having a verbal fight with Congress which got very aggressive. A part of it also included pulling down Deputy Chairman from his seat with no confidence motion.

The no-confidence motion was the indication Shetty felt for resigning from his post.

While speaking his farewell speech in Kannada addressing the members of the Council, Shetty iterated that Gowda’s demise held him up with the commitment unwillingly. Dharmegowda was found dead near a railway track in Chikkamagaluru, in the vicinity of his farmhouse on December 29, which aggravated the matter.

Regarding the happenings, Shetty said, “I am deeply hurt by the unsavoury incidents that took place from December 7 to 12, and December 15 last year. One of the oldest Upper Houses, which has a history of 113 years… this House was never a witness to such unpleasant scenes. This will remain the saddest moment of my life. This was not the case when I had joined politics 37 years ago and most of my contemporaries will surely agree with my viewpoint.”

He further added, “The floor strength alone cannot be the only yardstick to assess one’s popularity or reputation. The politics is always decided by the majority, whether inside the House or outside. But I wish for the House to deliberate more about issues concerning the country’s majority — Dalits, backwards, and farmers instead of focussing more on just floor strength.”

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