C'garh: Dharamlal Kaushik elected BJP legislature party leader

The BJP's Chhattisgarh unit chief and MLA Dharamlal Kaushik was Friday elected its legislature party leader.

Kaushik will be Leader of Opposition in Chhattisgarh Assembly.

Kaushik, an MLA from Bilha constituency in Bilaspur district, was elected as legislature party leader in a meeting of newly elected MLAs here at BJP's office Ekata Parisar, a party leader said, adding that its central observers for the state, Thawarchand Gehlot and Anil Jain, were present at the meeting.

Kaushik, who hails from the OBC Kurmi community, had served as Speaker of the state Assembly during the Raman Singh government's second term from 2008 to 2013.

In the two-phase Chhattisgarh Assembly polls held in November last year, the Congress had registered a landslide victory capturing 68 seats in 90-member House.

The BJP, which was in power since 2003 in the state, was reduced to 15 seats while former chief minister Ajit Jogi led Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) managed to win 5 seats.

Jogi's ally, the Bahujan Samaj Party, won 2 seats.

The first session of fifth Chhattisgarh Assembly began on Friday and is scheduled to go on till January 11.