B. L. Shankar elected Council Chairman

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE AUG. 6. Mr. B. L. Shankar, unattached Janata Dal member, was today elected Chairman of the Legislative Council. He was supported by the Congress and the Janata Dal(S).

Forty-nine members voted in favour of Mr. Shankar and 14 against him in the 75-member House. The Congress, which has 31 members in the House, gave the Opposition the choice to pick up a candidate for the post. Mr. Shankar, who had the support of four unattached members also, emerged the favourite.

Sources close to Mr. Shankar, who is the former Minister for Industries, told The Hindu that political shrewdness helped him win the elections. Dr. M. R. Tanga of the BJP and Mr. K. B. Shanappa of the Janata Dal(U), who were also in the race, could not muster enough support.

The Janata Dal(S), which has 14 members, including the Chairman in-charge, Mr. David Simeon, backed Mr. Shankar to indicate its dislike to the Janata Dal(U) and the BJP. Dr. Tanga got 14 votes and Mr. Shanappa eight. Fifty members voted against the former, and 48 against Mr. Shanappa.

The House met 45 minutes late as the leaders were engaged in political confabulations to help Mr. Shankar get elected unanimously. Reports said that others in the race refused to withdraw from the contest.

The Congress leaders, who were monitoring the elections, told The Hindu that the party's original plan was to abstain from the elections rather than issue a whip to its members to vote in favour of an Opposition candidate. However, the party had to issue the whip since the Opposition could not field a common candidate.

If the Congress members abstained from voting and the Janata Dal(U) and the BJP members, which have a combined strength of 22, entered into an agreement, Mr. Shankar would have been edged out. Mr. Shankar could have mustered not more than 20 votes then. Further, the winning candidate should get at least 51 per cent of votes of the members present.

The Congress decided not to field a candidate as the party believed that the Opposition parties would field a common candidate. However, with the Opposition parties divided on the issue much before the closing hour for filing of nomination papers on Saturday, the Congress could have directed one of its members to file the papers.

Mr. Shankar (49), a Vokkaliga, had the support of the former Prime Minister, Mr. H. D. Deve Gowda, and the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna. A fortnight ago, among the names that figured for the post was that of Mr. K. H. Srinivasa, Leader of the Opposition, and Mr. B. A. Mohideen, an unattached member, who has only 10 months left to complete his term. Mr. Shankar's term will end in May 2004.

Mr. Simeon officiated for a record period of 13 months as Chairman since the Congress wanted to obtain a majority in the Upper House before calling for elections to the post. Mr. Simeon took steps to renovate the Legislative Council Hall and the lounges. He did not seek the Chairman's post since he wanted to return to active politics.

Mr. Shankar told The Hindu that he would strive to improve the quality of debates in the House and allot more time for legislative business and discussing people's problems. Efforts would be made to create the post of Secretary- General for the legislature to ensure better coordination between the Assembly and the Council.

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