BJP names Kota Shrinivas Poojary as Leader of Opposition in K'taka Legislative Council

Nearly after a gap of seven months, the BJP on Monday announced the appointment of senior MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary as the Leader of the Opposition in the Council and Hubli-Dharwad (West) MLA Arvind Bellad as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

Both of these appointments signify that the BJP does not want to antagonize its core voter base of Billavas in the coastal region and Lingayats in the state.

Three-time MLA Bellad, who has been identified with the anti-B S Yediyurappa camp for some time now, belongs to the Panchamasali community, a powerful Lingayat sub-sect in Mumbai-Karnataka (Kittur Karnataka). The region comprising six districts sends around 50 representatives to the Assembly.

According to a statement released by the BJP, the party has also appointed its MLCs Sunil Vallyapure and N Ravikumar as the Deputy Leader of Opposition and Chief Whip, respectively, in the legislative Council while Kushtagi MLA Doddanagouda G Patil has been named as the Chief Whip in the lower house of the state legislature.

By appointing Bellad (Panachamasali), Vallyapure (SC) and Patil (Kuruba), it appears that the party has sought to put an end to ongoing debate over the issue of north Karnataka region not getting its due share in the state leadership hierarchy.

Besides, the party has got its caste combination right in this region. Bellad had lobbied strongly to secure the leader of the Opposition post.

A senior leader told DH on the condition of anonymity, “Kota Srinivas Poojary had been the face of the party in the Council since 2018. “Despite his lack of oratory skills, his clean image and no nonsense attitude has helped the soft-spoken leader from the coastal region to secure this position,” the leader added.

Poojary previously served as the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council during 2018-19 and as the leader of the House in the Council from 2019 to 2023.

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, in a statement, said that appointments have been made as per the directions of party national president J P Nadda.

“Appointments of Poojary, Bellad, Vallyapure, Patil and Ravi Kumar will help us in raising more people-centric issues effectively in both the Houses,” he said.