From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jul 30: Soft-spoken and mild-mannered Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, a six-term BJP MLA from Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district, is set to become the next Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
Though chief minister B S Yediyurappa was keen on getting former Speaker K G Bopaiah to man the House in view of the strong presence of senior leaders such as former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy and several veteran leaders in the opposition Congress and JD(S), apparently the disinclination of Bopaiah to occupy the hot seat forced the ruling party to opt Kageri.
The 58-year-old leader, who celebrated his birthday on July 10, was the only candidate to file his nomination papers before close of the 12 noon deadline before Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi.
Chief minister Yediyurappa and senior BJP leaders Govind Karjol, R Ashok, Jagadish Shettar, K S Eshwarappa and S Suresh Kumar accompanied Kageri while filing the nomination papers.
Kageri will be occupying the hot seat vacated by K R Ramesh Kumar, an one-time former Speaker, who resigned his post after a tumultuous tenure of 14 months following the defeat of the Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition regime after disqualifying as many as 17 legislators belonging to Congress and JD(S).
One of the first decision to be taken by the new Speaker will be deciding the fate of the lone BSP member and former minister Mahesh, who is also facing disqualification but Ramesh Kumar kept the decision pending.
Kageri’s unopposed election will be formally announced when the Assembly meets on Wednesday after Yediyurappa won the floor test in a truncated House.