Simeon is acting Chairman of Council

By A.Jayaram

BANGALORE, JUNE 18. The Deputy Chairman, Mr. David Simeon, is the acting Chairman of the Legislative Council since Saturday.

His appointment under Article 184 (1) of the Constitution follows the retirement of the Chairman, Mr. Digambara Rao Kalmankar, as a member of the House on Friday.

Mr. Simeon, who belongs to the Janata Dal (Secular) is from Gulbarga District as is Mr. Kalmankar.

Mr. Kalmankar belonged to the Congress (I) and the party is stated to be keen on keeping that office for itself, though it has only 20 members. It denied the ticket to Mr.Kalmankar to seek a fourth term. The Congress(I) will not be establishing a majority even in the event of its winning all the six seats reserved for graduates and teachers in the elections held on Saturday and through the six nominations due later this year. The Janata Dal (S) has not obliged the ruling party with a split as it happened in the Assembly with six of its ten members crossing over to the Treasury Benches. The Party has remained united in the Upper House under the leadership of Mr. K.H.Srinivasa as is to be expected of a political group in the House of the Elders.

According to Congress (I) sources, the party is no hurry to get the Chairman elected. It will wait for a few months and let Mr.Simeon hold office in a temporary capacity. The party will strive to arrive at a consensus which at the moment may be difficult to evolve as the Opposition parties are yet to recover from the severe drubbing they received in the zilla and taluk panchayat elections. Moreover, with the entry of the State BJP President, Mr. B.S.Yediyurappa, into the House, the relations between the Congress(I) and the Opposition will not be the same again.

Mr. Yediyurappa is known for his rigid stand on various issues. A relentless fighter, he had given greater opposition to the Government of the day even when the BJP had only two and four members in the eighth and the ninth Assemblies respectively, than what the party with 44 MLAs has been able to provide in the present Assembly.

It will be no surprise if the Opposition gets its own nominee elected as Chairman as it happened in April 1972 when Mr. S.D.Gaonkar of the Congress (Organisation) was elected presiding officer and did not cooperate with the then Congress (Ruling) Government of D.Devaraj Urs.

Since 1956 when the State was reorganised, the longest period a Deputy Chairman has acted as the Chairman was during May 1992 to January 1993 when Mr. B.R.Patil of the Janata Party held office. In contrast, the late K.Subba Rao, a well-known Congressman and freedom fighter from Channapatna was acting Chairman for only three days from September 23 to 26, 1970.

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