'Central leadership to decide Karnataka Leader of Opposition'

The central leadership will be taking a decision on the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, informed Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yediyurappa.

“We have not taken any decision so far, it is left to the central leadership, they will take the decision”, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said.

The senior BJP leader also added that they will support fighting against the Congress government along with HD Kumaraswamy. “We are together in the fight against the Congress government. We are just waiting for the central leadership’s permission,” the former Chief Minister said.

Earlier in the day, Yediyurappa said that the BJP will be deciding on the Leader of Opposition and will finalise the name by Tuesday evening or Wednesday. “Today our leaders are coming and we will decide on the Leader of Opposition and hopefully we will finalise the name today evening or tomorrow,” Yediyurappa had said earlier.

“Whatever HD Kumaraswamy is saying is absolutely true and I want to support his statement. Kumaraswamy and we will fight together in future,” he added. Meanwhile, the second day of the Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday was marked by unruly scenes over the implementation of the five ‘guarantees’ given by the Congress party ahead of the state polls.

After Speaker UT Khader asked MLA Shivalinge Gowda to speak during Question Hour, BJP members stood up and demanded the Speaker to suspend the Question Hour and give them time to discuss the ‘guarantees’ announced by the Congress. Yediyurappa said that if the Congress government in the state does not implement its ‘guarantees’, the BJP will stage protests in every district.

“We are protesting against the Karnataka government as they made so many promises but nothing has been delivered. We don’t have any fresh demand; we only want them to implement their 5 demands. If they do not take any action in the coming week, we will go around the state and stage protests in every district,” Yediyurappa said. The five ‘main’ guarantees, which Congress promised to fulfil after coming to power in Karnataka, were 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti); Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi); 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya); Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi) and free travel for women in public transport buses (Uchita Prayana). (ANI)