Rudrappa Lamani, 64, three-time Congress MLA, was elected unopposed as Deputy Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
He belongs to the Banjara community and served as Minister in the previous Congress government.
Earlier, the Congress had picked Chamarajanagar MLA C. Puttarangashetty for the post, but he declined to take it up.
Mr. Lamani, Haveri MLA, became the 25th Deputy Speaker of the House on Thursday. “Though I have a desire to become a Minister, the party asked me to become the Deputy Speaker and I accepted the post happily,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said Mr. Lamani had bowed to the party’s decision”. Speaker U.T. Khader, the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, and other senior members congratulated Mr. Lamani.
During the Ministry formation in May, supporters of Mr. Lamani staged a protest in front of the KPCC office in Bengaluru and other parts of north Karnataka for denying representation for their leader in the Cabinet.
