Meet the protem speaker in eye of K’taka storm

BENGALURU: K Ganapathy Bopaiah, 62, a three-time MLA from Virajpet constituency in Kodagu district and a former Speaker, was selected by Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala as pro-tem Speaker and administered the oath of office, provoking immediate howls of protest from the Congress.

A pro-tem Speaker is a temporary Speaker chosen to preside over the proceedings of the House till a new Speaker is elected. By convention, it is usually a senior member of the House, but the governor has the discretion on whom he chooses. Bopiah, who was the Speaker earlier between November 2009 and May 2013, was seen as a controversial choice. Some of his past decisions had come under criticism by the Supreme Court. In the previous BS Yeddyurappa government, when some BJP members revolted, he disqualified them and helped the government survive. The SC had then rapped the Speaker’s conduct as a “partisan trait” and said it didn’t “meet twin tests of natural justice and fair play” while reversing the disqualification.

Bopaiah, an ‘arebashe gowda’ from Kodagu who was a longtime Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker and lawyer before getting into electoral politics, will preside over the confidence motion, which will determine whether the Yeddyurappa government will survive.

The Congress has protested, saying the convention is to select the senior-most MLA as the protem Speaker, and said its MLA from Haliyal, RV Deshpande, who has won seven times, should have therefore been the choice. Bopaiah’s role is critical as the pro-tem Speaker has a wide range of powers in conducting assembly proceedings.

Responding to Congress criticism, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted that even in 2008, Bopaiah was appointed pro-tem Speaker by then governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj. He said Bopaiah’s appointment was as per rules and regulations and added that the objection from Congress was “hyprocisy.”

This Karnataka election saw a number of father-son and in one instance father-daughter contestants trying their fortune at the hustings. Siddaramaiah and his son Yatindra won from Badami and Varuna constituencies respectively, but Siddaramaiah had to face the ignominy of defeat from Chamundeshwari. The home minister in the just-ousted government, Ramalinga Reddy and his daughter Soumya Reddy were contesting from BTM layout and Jayanagar respectively. While Ramalinga romped home, the election in Soumya’s seat was countermanded. However, the saddest duo must be law minister in the just departed government TB Jayachandra and his son Santosh who contested from Sira and Chikkanayakanhalli since both of them lost.

WGiven the hot words politicians exchange with each other during campaigning, the sweet promises they make before getting elected, and the sour taste of unfulfilled promises, a person with experience on how to make masala, one would presume, should be a good addition in politics. That is what voters of Turuvekere in Tumkur think, having elected ‘Masala’ Jayaram of the BJP to the legislature.

Jayaram runs a very successful masalas company called JS Masalas. His masalas are sold under the brand name ‘Teju’ and have quite a dedicated following. One patron tells your diarist that it is Teju’s ‘chicken kabab powder’ that is the pick of the lot. Jayaram, an aide of BS Yeddyurappa, was a part of the latter’s Karnataka Janata Party adventure too when the Lingayat strongman parted ways with BJP. In the last election when Jayaram contested on a KJP ticket, he didn’t smell victory but moving back to the BJP and contesting on the Lotus symbol seems to have added enough spice to guarantee his win. hen a candidate loses two elections in succession from a constituency, one would expect him to feel disheartened. Not so K Bagegowda, the JD(S) candidate from Basvangudi. The constituency in Bengaluru is considered prestigious, having in the past been represented by the likes of former CM Ramakrishna Hegde. It has a largely upper middle class ‘educated’ population and is also seen as where the old money of the city stays before it became an IT hub and the ‘noveau rich’ took over other parts. Bagegowda had contested in the constituency in 2013 too, from the JD(S) when he was walloped by the BJP’S Ravi Subramanya by a 20,000 vote margin. In 2018 too, he again tried his fortune against the same opponent who was the incumbent, only to lose by nearly 38,000 votes. As noted earlier, most would give up, but not Bagegowda. He not only took out extensive advertisements after the elections thanking all those who stood by him but also went around the constituency thanking workers and voters, even those who had not voted for him. He’s probably thinking “Third time lucky…”