BJP MLA Anand Mamani elected as Karnataka Assembly Deputy Speaker

BJP Saundatti Anand Mamani on Tuesday was unanimously elected as the Deputy Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Bengaluru: BJP legislator from Saundatti Anand Mamani was unanimously elected as the Deputy Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

As the House met, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri announced that the process of election of deputy speaker be initiated following which Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa proposed the name of Anandalias Vishwanath Chandrashekhar Mamani.

Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol seconded the proposal. After following due process, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri announced that Mamani has been elected unanimously.

Congress members were not present in the House as the party had boycotted the session accusing government of not heeding to the opposition's views and was tabling and passing the bills, despite its reservation.

Mamani who is third time MLA from Saundatti is the 24th Deputy Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. His father late Chandrashekar Mallikarjun Mamani had also served as the Deputy Speaker from 1996-99.

After assuming charge as Deputy Speaker, Mamani said he will work under the guidance of the speaker, and thanked Yediyurappa and members of the House. "I'm only three times MLA, I need cooperation from everyone," he said.

On March 17, JD(S) legislator M Krishna Reddy quit the post of Deputy Speaker as the ruling BJP prepared to move a no-confidence motion against him.

Reddy was elected as Deputy Speaker on July 6, 2018 during the tenure of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.

The coalition government collapsed in July last year due to internal differences and paved the way for the BJP to come to power under the leadership of Yediyurappa. (PTI report)