Congress fields Kondaiah for Council Dy Chairman post to expose JD(S)

Bengaluru: The Congress in Karnataka on Thursday decided to field senior party leader K.C. Kondaiah as its candidate for the post of Deputy Chairman in the Legislative Council to "expose" the JD(S) which has decided to back the ruling BJP nominee.

The BJP has fielded M.K. Pranesh as its candidate and is confident of winning the Deputy Chairman election scheduled for Friday, with support from the JD(S). According to top Congress sources, the party has decided to field Kondaiah despite slim chances of his winning, with an intention to "expose" the JD(S). "We will field our candidate for the Deputy Chairman election. We are confident about getting conscience votes. JD(S) goes to town claiming they're secularists, whose true colour is what will get exposed in this election," Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah said. Siddaramaiah has been repeatedly targeting the regional party questioning its secular credentials citing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi terming it as 'B team' of the BJP, during 2018 Assembly polls. According to party sources at the CLP meeting held earlier Thursday, KPCC president D K Shivakumar was not in favour of fielding a candidate for the Deputy Chairman's post. However, Siddaramaiah is said to have insisted. The post of the Deputy Chairman has fallen vacant following JD(S)' S L Dharme Gowda's death allegedly by suicide last month. The BJP and JD(S) on Wednesday had decided to join hands for the post of Legislative Council Chairman and Deputy Chairman. As per the arrangement, the BJP will support the JD (S) for the Chairman post, while the regional party will return the favour by ceding the Deputy Chairman post. Election for the post of Council Chairman is also expected to take place during the ongoing session, as there are indications that incumbent K Pratapachandra Shetty, who is from the Congress, may resign soon, as the ruling BJP has moved a no-confidence motion against him and the JD(S) will be supporting it. PTI