The election to the post of Legislative Council chairperson will be held on December 21 even as there is little clarity on what the ruling BJP has in mind when it comes to keeping its promise to Basavaraj Horatti, the senior-most member of the upper house.
Horatti holds the record of winning seven times in a row from the West Teachers' constituency. Before he joined the BJP, Horatti was with the JD(S) and occupied the chairperson's post with BJP support.
The BJP, which has never won from West Teachers’ seat, was keen on increasing its tally in the Council. Unable to field a formidable candidate against Horatti, it found it convenient to get Horatti into the party by promising him the chairperson's post.
However, internal politics has kept Horatti away from occupying the chairperson's post, which is currently held by Raghunath Malkapure.
According to sources, BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh flagged Horatti’s choice as the chairperson, much to the embarrassment of the state unit.
Horatti told DH, "Senior BJP leaders B S Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar, Pralhad Joshi, Govind Karjol, R Ashoka and others had approached me requesting to join BJP on the condition that I would be made the chairman of the House. I don't know why they backtracked. I am not sure what they are going to do now that the election has been notified."
A senior BJP leader said, "It will not augur well for the party which had promised Horatti to back out now. If it did not want a new entrant to be offered the chairmanship, it should not have entered into a pact with him. It is the question of party’s credibility now,."
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on the BJP to continue Malkapure as the chairperson and he has reportedly approached the high command through Santhosh.