Congress asks people to choose LOP for BJP as party fails to fill post

Bengaluru: The BJP's failure to appoint a Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly has been a setback to the party in bringing back fighting spirit and morale of the party cadres and the ruling Congress has seized the opportunity to embarrass it. Taking potshots at BJP over the issue, the ruling party has come up with a new idea to taunt the BJP. As former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had been to New Delhi recently and stated to the media that the appointment would be made after the parliament session, Large and Medium Industries Minister M.B. Patil, in a social media post, said that he would like to help the saffron party to choose the leader of the opposition.

"I don’t think the BJP is in a position to choose LoP on their own. Public opinion may help them make a decision," he said - giving four choices for the public. The first is BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, JD-S leader ande former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy is second choice and former CM Bommai the third. The fourth option is none of the above.

An option is given for voting in the post. Yatnal is leading over others in the poll with 33.6 per cent of voters preferring him. Kumaraswamy is in second place with 25.8 per cent and Bommai has got the support of only 10.7 per cent. Interestingly, the fourth option, none of the above was polled by 29.9 per cent of voters. 2,540 voters have taken part in the polling and the polling will end in another 16 hours. Sources say that the BJP high command is totally upset and disenchanted with the state BJP leadership following the humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections. Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah made repeated visits to Karnataka, carried out road shows across Karnataka and it attracted huge crowds, BJP suffered humiliating defeat wherever PM Modi took out roadshows.