After Lingayat party chief, BJP picks Vokkaliga as leader of opposition

The BJP on Friday chose former deputy chief minister R Ashoka as the leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP national general Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, BJP state unit president B Y Vijayendra, and former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai were among those present at the legislature party meeting, where Ashoka was picked as its leader.

Ashoka, 59, a seven-time BJP MLA, was the deputy chief minister in the BJP government from July 2012 to May 2013.

The senior BJP leader had the opportunity to work with five chief ministers as a cabinet member. As a minister, he had held various portfolios such as home, revenue, municipal administration, transport and health and family welfare.

Ashoka is a prominent Vokkaliga face in the party, which is one of the dominant communities in Karnataka, especially spread in the southern parts of Karnataka such as Bengaluru, Chikkaballapura, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara, Kolar, Tumakuru and Chikkamagaluru.

Last week, the BJP central leadership appointed as its state unit president Shikaripura MLA B Y Vijayendra, the son of BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa, who is a Lingayat -- another dominant community of Karnataka.

In the May elections to the 224-member assembly, the Congress ousted the BJP from power with a landslide victory. The Congress secured 135 seats, the BJP 66 and JD-S 19.

In his address, Ashoka said a sincere effort will be made to expose the "maladministration and corruption" of the ruling Congress in Karnataka before public.

He alleged that despite the severe drought in the state the Congress government has failed to offer any relief to the farmers.

”When the BJP was ruling the state, it had doubled the drought relief amount but the current government has emptied the state treasury,” the newly appointed leader of opposition said.

He also charged that the government has failed to carry out any development work ever since it came to power.

When the meeting to decide the leader of the opposition was in progress, Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal walked out saying that he was going to have tea.

The MLA had earlier in the day expressed his strong resentment over the appointment of Vijayendra as the party state president, saying that BJP should not become a party of one family in an apparent reference to Yediyurappa and his family.