Bommai & Yatnal in race for Oppn leader

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and Vijayapura City MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal are in the race for the post of Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly. The BJP core committee was supposed to decide in this regard but the meeting was postponed due to some reason.

The lawmakers seem to be divided over the selection of the Opposition Leader. While a majority of the BJP’s Lok Sabha members favour Yatnal for the post, almost all MLAs want Bommai to be chosen because of his experience in handling several portfolios as minister since 2008 as well as Chief Minister for two years.

The BJP National General Secretary and In-Charge of Karnataka Affairs Arun Singh and State BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel were supposed to attend the core committee meeting but it was postponed. Party sources told News Trail that the post requires a great amount of knowledge regarding the functioning of almost 30 departments besides the experience to tackle the ruling party.

Yatnal is a good orator and has the experience of working as Union Minister of State for Railways in the Atal Behari Vajpayee Cabinet. Subsequently, he returned to state politics but never became minister due to his caustic remarks against his party leaders. He acted as the ‘Opposition leader’ within the BJP when B.S.

Yediyurappa was CM for the fourth time for a brief period of over one year much to the embarrassment of state leaders. His biggest advantage is his good oratory power. On the other hand, Bommai, though lacking the needed firepower, has an in-depth knowledge of several key departments like Water Resources, PWD, Home, RDPR and Education which could prove useful in catching t h e ruling Congress Party on the wrong foot.

For this reason, the BJP high command may favour Bommai for the Opposition leader’s post over Yatnal. As both Bommai and Yatnal belong to the Veerashaiva /Lingayat community, the high command may pick R. Ashok or K. Sunil Kumar as Deputy Leader. The BJP will have an opposition leader before the commencement of the budget session, sources said.