96 members of dissolved Assembly re-enter

Bangalore, May 25 (UNI) The 13th Karnataka Assembly will see at least 96 members of the previous House making a re-entry from among 179 out the 224 members, who contested the just concluded three-phase elections.

A lions-share of 49 of them would be from the BJP with the Congress and the Janata Dal(S) retaining 37 and 10 respectively.

Standing tall among the old timers would be Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) President Mallikarjuan Kharge, who had created a record by winning a ninth-term from Gulbarga District -- Eight from Gurmitkal and one from Chitapur.

The Congress had re-nominated 69 members of the previous Assembly, while the BJP had 60 and the Janata Dal(S) 30. The Congress list, included nine JD(S) members, led by former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had joined the party following differences with the JD(S) leadership.

The House will have no representation from the CPI(M), JD(U), Republican Party of India(RPI), Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi(MES) and the Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha(KCVP). The members had tried for another entry, but could not succeed. Some members of these parties made a vain bid to return. Prominent among them were G V Sreerama Reddy (CPI-M), Vatal Nagaraj and J C Madhuswamy (JD-U). A BJP rebel, Shakuntala Shetty from Puttur also could not make it.

The new Assembly would be packed with fresh faces.

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