Bengaluru: It was smooth sailing, after all, for veteran Congress leader K.R. Ramesh Kumar, who was unanimously elected Speaker of the 15th Legislative Assembly on Friday with the BJP withdrawing the candidature of Mr Suresh Kumar for the post .
The BJP Legislature Party, which met here Friday morning, decided not to contest the post and after Mr. Suresh Kumar informed the House about his withdrawal, pro-tem Speaker K.G. Bopaiah declared that Mr. Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected Speaker.
As required by convention, CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and Opposition leader B.S.Yeddyurappa escorted Mr Kumar to the Speaker’s chair.
Congratulating him, Mr Kumaraswamy recalled that Mr Kumar was also the Speaker when his father H.D. Deve Gowda was the Chief Minister and said it was his good fortune that he was Speaker again when he was CM and assured him of all cooperation.
Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah hoped that the quality of the debate in the House, which was deteriorating, would be restored with Mr Kumar as Speaker and appealed to him to give an opportunity to the young members of the Assembly to be heard.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. G. Parameshwar, former minister D.K. Shivakumar, and others congratulated Mr Kumar, recalling his earlier stint as Speaker between 1994 and 1999.
Mr Kumar, for his part, thanked the members for unanimously electing him Speaker, making a special mention of opposition leader B.S.Yeddyurappa for not contesting the post.
He advised the members to uphold the dignity of the House and work under the framework of the Constitution. He appealed to them for the smooth functioning of the House.
