Former CM Shettar elected BJP leader in K'taka assembly

Bangalore, May 14: Former chief minister

was elected on Tuesday the leader of the

legislature party in the

assembly while former deputy chief minister R Ashok was elected the deputy leader.

The duo was unanimously elected as during a meeting attended by the newly elected party MLAs here. State BJP chief Prahlad Joshi and party national general secretary H Ananthkumar were also present on the occasion.

Party's Rajya Sabha MP and Karnataka unit spokesperson Ayanur Manjunath said former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and K B Shanappa will be the leader and deputy leader in the Legislative Council.

The party's poor show at the recent assembly polls was also discussed in the meeting and former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who was also present at the meeting, reportedly asked the leaders not to get demoralised by the failure. Karnataka is the first state in southern India where the BJP had formed a government in 2008 but could not survive more than a term owing to endless feud in the party and corruption charges.

Reacting to the new Congress government's decision of not pursuing the Prevention of the Cow Slaughter (Amendment) Bill, 1964, Manjunath said the BJP will take to street protest if the Siddaramaiah government chose to take anti-people decisions. He said the party will fight both inside and outside the legislature against the Congress government.

The BJP leader also took a dig at the chief minister on his decision to supply rice at Re 1 a kilo and waiver of loans received by SC/ST and OBC communities through state-owned corporations, saying the decisions were taken by an individual and were unlikely to succeed. He said the CM was in a hurry in his game of one-upmanship.

Manjunath said the party will protest against the Centre's failure to contain the soaring prices of essential goods and demanding the prime minister's resignation on issues like 2G spectrum and Coalgate.

Sources in the BJP said that its parties will court arrest on May 27 at the district level on May 29 at Bangalore in their 'jail bharo' programme. Party leaders also said the former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's statement that he had accomplished his desire to finish off the BJP showed his political bankruptcy.

OneIndia News