Motamma may step down as leader of opposition in Karnataka, SR Patil to take over

There is a fat chance of Motamma stepping down as the leader of opposition in the state legislative council. Sources said that senior Congress MLA SR Patil will take her place as the leader of opposition.

Motamma, one of the senior Congress leaders who has close connections with party high command Sonia Gandhi, is all set to be chairperson of the Coffee Board of India.

“At present, state Congress president G Parameshwar and Motamma hail from scheduled community. There was a cry in Congress that Lingayat leaders were neglected in the distribution of power. Keeping that in mind, Congress high command has decided to replace Motamma and accommodate Patil as the leader of opposition in the council,” said a senior Congress leader.

There is also another reason for this change. When Ugrappa was the leader of the opposition in the legislative council, he was known to take up various issues. But after Motamma took over as opposition leader, she failed to highlight issues and embarrass the ruling BJP government. So the high command has decided to give chance to Patil, who has a strong Lingayat back-up.

In the 75-member state legislative council, ruling BJP has 40 MLCs and the opposition parties Congress and JD(S) have 18 and 14 MLCs, respectively, two independent MLCs, and one chairman.