Bengaluru: Senior  Congress MLA from Haveri, Rudrappa Lamani has been elected unopposed as the Deputy Speaker in the Legislative Assembly. Lamani had served as a Minister in Congress Governments in the past. A few weeks ago, another senior Congress MLA from Chamarajanagar and former Minister C. Puttarangashetty was named by the ruling Congress for the post. But Puttarangashetty had declined  to accept the post citing political reasons, following which the Congress named Rudrappa Lamani as the Deputy Speaker.

Soon after his election, Lamani was congratulated by Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Speaker U.T. Khader, former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former Minister V. Sunil Kumar and other leaders.