Bonhomie marks Day One

Election to the Speaker's post to be held tomorrow

The  Day One of the 14th Assembly witnessed bonhomie among the newly elected members who exchanged pleasantries, handshakes and bear hugs. As many as 146 of the 223 members were administered oath by pro tem Speaker Malikayya V Guttedar.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was the first to take oath. He took oath in the name of truth. He was followed by Higher Education Minister R V Desphande, other Cabinet ministers and then members in alphabetical order. 

The Congress is occupying the treasury benches after a gap of seven years. Sitting arrangement wise, Desphande has been allotted the number two slot - the seat next to the chief minister.

Other ministers who have been allotted seats in the front row are Qamar-ul-Islam, T B Jayachandra, Ramanath Rai, H K Patil, Ramalinga Reddy, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, V Srinivas Prasad and H C Mahadevappa.

The BJP which ruled the State for the last five years is now confined to the Opposition benches. JD(S) has been given the status of principal Opposition party in the House. Though the JD(S) and the BJP have 40 MLAs each, the former scored a higher vote share in the May 5 Assembly polls.

JD(S) legislature party leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy will occupy the seat of the Leader of the Opposition. He is yet to take oath as he stayed away from the proceedings of the House on the first day.

Several ministerial aspirants such as Basavaraj Rayareddy, Kagodu Thimmappa, D B Inamdar, B B Chimmanakatti attended the session and took oath. They tried their best not to show the disappointment of not making it to the Cabinet. However, senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar did not attend the House.

Prominent Opposition members who have been allotted front row seats are H K Kumaraswamy, D Nagarajaiah, H D Revanna (all JD-S), Jagadish Shettar, R Ashoka, Umesh V Katti and K G Bopaiah (all BJP), B S Yeddyurappa and B R Patil (both KJP) and C P Yogeeshwara (SP).

Two take oath in Marathi

The two Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) members – Aravind Chandrakanth Patil and Sambhaji Lakshman Patil - attended the session sporting saffron coloured turbans, the traditional headgear of Maharashtra.

The duo, elected from Belgaum district, took oath in Marathi. While Aravind Patil represents the Khanapur constituency, Sambhaji Patil represents Belgaum South.

None of the four members of the BSR Congress including its chief B Sriramulu attended the session. The remaining members will take oath on Thursday. Election to the post of Speaker will be held on Friday.

In all probability, Kagodu Thimmappa will be  elected Speaker unopposed. The deadline for filing the nominations ends at 12 noon on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Guttedar was administered oath as pro tem Speaker by Governor H R Bhardwaj at a simple function held at the Banquet Hall of Raj Bhavan.