Major challenge for BS Yeddyurappa: To pick right man for Speaker

Bengaluru: The challenge has only now begun for chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who now has to prove his majority on the Floor of the House. What could be crucial to his winning the trust vote is the election of a full term Speaker from his own party to chair the session as he has the prerogative to take it either through voice vote or head count, whichever is convenient to the ruling party.

Normally the Speaker and deputy speaker belong to the ruling party as they are elected unopposed based on its numbers in the House. But the fractured verdict of the latest Assembly poll has put the BJP under the mat and it will have to work hard to retain the two posts.

At present, the BJP has 104 MLAs and the combined Opposition numbers 118 MLAs, including two Independent MLAs. Chances are that if the Congress and JD(S) field a common candidate for the post of Speaker, and succeed in keeping their flock of MLAs intact till the floor test, the BJP may not have much of a chance of netting it.

While on Thursday the BJP claimed two Congress MLAs — Anand Singh and Pratapgowda Patil — had switched sides to it and its strength had gone up to 106, it still remains short of five MLAs to reach the crucial halfway mark of 111 in the present Assembly of 221 seats.