Senior Congress leader Kagodu Thimmappa on Friday elected Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly unopposed. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah proposed his name and it was seconded by Higher Education Minister RV Deshpande. law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister TB Jayachandra also proposed the candidature of the 82-year-old MlA, which was backed by CS Nadagouda.
After a voice-vote, pro-tem Speaker Malikayya Guttedar announced that Thimmappa, a former Minister who was elected from Sagara in Shimoga district in the May 5 elections, was elected to the post unanimously.
Siddaramaiah, leader of Opposition HD Kumaraswamy (JDS), former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar (BJP) and others who spoke, congratulated the new Speaker.
In another development, the ruling Congress on Friday won a keenly contested Periyapatna Assembly seat, taking its tally to 122 in the 225-member House. Congress nominee K Venkatesh defeated K Mahadev of the Janata Dal (Secular) by over 2,000 votes in the May 28 poll whose votes were counted on Friday. Periyapatna did not vote with the rest of the State on May 5 following the death of the BJP candidate. Venkatesh polled 62,045 votes while Mahadev bagged 59,957, election officials told reporters here. The third place was taken by HD Ganesh of a regional outfit formed by former BJP Minister B Sriramulu. He got over 5,000 votes.
The BJP, which was routed in the May 5 polls, fared miserably in Periyapatna as well with its candidate RT Satish coming fourth, getting only 3,731 votes and losing his security deposit. It also came as a booster for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as Periyapatna falls in his home district Mysore.
The Congress victory has dashed the JD(S) hopes of becoming the second largest party in the Assembly. It is now tied at the second spot with the BJP as the two have won 40 seats each. The remaining 22 seats are shared by smaller parties and individuals. One member is nominated to represent the Anglo-Indian community.