Amid discontent from NK leaders, BJP picks Ashok as Leader of the Opposition 

BJP chooses Ashok as LoP in Karnataka Assembly, signals Yediyurappa group's control. After 6 months, BJP selects Ashok, a Vokkaliga MLA, as LoP to ensure Vokkaliga leadership not ignored. Central leadership may be trying to put responsibility of LS polls on newly appointed State president. Discontent among a section of leaders. BJP chooses Ashok as LoP in Karnataka Assembly, signaling Yediyurappa group's control. After 6 months, Ashok, a Vokkaliga MLA, chosen to ensure Vokkaliga leadership not ignored. Central leadership may put responsibility of LS polls on newly appointed State president, causing discontent.

R. Ashok, seventh-time MLA, was chosen as the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Friday, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose him as its legislature party leader amid discontent among a section of leaders. The BJP arrived at the decision nearly six months after the Assembly elections.

The selection of the 66-year-old leader, who is on good terms with the party’s newly appointed State president B.Y. Vijayendra, his father and veteran leader B.S. Yediyurappa, and the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, is being seen as a clear signal that Yediyurappa group is calling the shots in the party for now.

A few senior leaders of the BJP felt that the party central leadership may be in no mood to create an alternative power centre in the State unit after appointing Mr. Vijayendra as the party State president recently. The central leadership may be trying to put the entire responsibility regarding performance in the Lok Sabha elections on Mr. Vijayendra by choosing someone who is close to him to be the Leader of the Opposition.

Also, some leaders maintain that choosing a Vokkaliga MLA as the Leader of the Opposition could be an effort to ensure that the BJP’s Vokkaliga leadership is not ignored under the shadow of its alliance with the JD(S), which has a strong support base in the community. 

The competition for the post had narrowed down to Mr. Ashok and C.N. Ashwath Narayan, who hail from the dominant Vokkaliga community, and OBC leader V. Sunil Kumar, going by the caste and community permutations as the party had already appointed a Lingayat leader as its State president.

There were clear indications of discontent among a section of leaders as senior leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal did not mince words while expressing dissatisfaction over only leaders from the southern region of the State getting all the important positions in the party though it had a strong presence in northern region. “I will not keep quiet if north Karnataka is not given due representation. A lot of MLAs of the party are with us. But they do not have a voice,” he said. 

Before the meeting, he also launched a veiled attack at Mr. Yediyurappa by arguing that the party should not come under the control of any particular family.