Bengaluru, 6 Aug

Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on Thursday said he would resign after the ruling Karnataka Congress decided to move a no-confidence motion if he refused to step down.

Horatti said Chief Minister DK Shivakumar informed him that the Congress High Command had directed him to seek the Chairman's resignation. Shivakumar spoke to him twice over the phone before holding a personal meeting on Wednesday. Karnataka Congress president and MLC BK Hariprasad also met Horatti on Thursday.

"I want to resign respectfully," Horatti said, adding that he planned to step down on 14 August after informing the House of the developments. He said he was "deeply pained" by the move but did not want to continue when the ruling party no longer wanted him in the Chair.

With the Congress holding a majority in the 75-member Council, Horatti said it could easily remove him through a no-confidence motion. He added that Shivakumar and other ministers had told him the decision came from the party high command and that they personally held him in high regard.

The development follows the Congress high command's approval of Saleem Ahmed as its nominee for Council Chairman and Umashree for Deputy Chairperson. It also cleared GS Patil for Assembly Speaker and AS Ponnanna for Deputy Speaker.

Calling the move "unprecedented" and "anti-democratic", Horatti said the election of the Council Chairman and Assembly Speaker was the prerogative of the House, not a political party's high command. He noted that no Council Chairman had been forced to resign since 1956 and said there were no allegations against him.

An eight-time MLC, Horatti was elected unopposed as Council Chairman in December 2022 when the BJP was in power. His current term runs until July 2028.