Cong MLA elected unopposed asmahaassemblyspeaker
RARE CONSENSUS Four-time lawmaker Patole chosen to head House
MUMBAI: Congress’s four-time lawmaker, Nana Patole, 57, was on Sunday elected unopposed as the Maharashtra assembly Speaker minutes after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’S Kisan Kathore withdrew his candidature following a rare consensus between the ruling alliance and the opposition after a month-long bitter power struggle.
“We decided to withdraw Kathore’s nomination following a request from the ruling side. Maharashtra has a healthy tradition of electing the Speaker unopposed…,” state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said.
Pro-tem Speaker Dilip Walse Patil earlier met Devendra Fadnavis, the leader of the opposition, over tea and requested him to follow the tradition of electing the Speaker unopposed, according to a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader who did not wish to be named.
“…at an all-party meeting, other parties requested us and it has been a tradition that the Speaker is appointed unopposed… we accepted the request and withdrew our candidate’s name,” Fadnavis said.
The ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Saturday fielded Patole for the Speaker’s post after the three-party alliance agreed to offer the deputy chief minister’s post to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Patole, who succeeds the BJP’S Haribhau Bagade, represents the Vidarbha region’s Sakoli assembly segment. He is the first Maharashtra Assembly Speaker from the region in over two decades.
Patole started his political career as a student leader in 1987 at the Nagpur University. He joined the Congress later and became Bhandara Zilla Parishad member in 1991. Patole was first elected to the Maharashtra assembly in 1999. He was reelected in 2004 and 2009. Patole joined the BJP and won the 2014 Lok Sabha election before returning to the Congress citing differences with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Fadnavis in December 2017. Patole won his fourth term from Sakoli by defeating former minister Parinay Phuke. He was elected as the Speaker a day after CM Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA coalition government sailed through in the floor test in the assembly.
The MVA got 169 votes, above the halfway mark of 145 in the 288member assembly.
Thackeray lauded Patole’s work as an MLA and a farmer leader as he escorted him to the Speaker’s chair along with some senior members of the House following his election. “I am happy that the son of a farmer has occupied this post” Thackeray said.
Fadnavis echoed Thackeray and also appreciated Patole’s work. “Though we have fielded our candidate, but election of the Speaker in a tough competition would have sent a wrong message, hence it was decided to withdraw the nomination,” the former chief minister said.
NCP minister Jayant Patil appreciated the spirit of the BJP’S and said, “By withdrawing its nomination from the poll, BJP has compensated the damage it had caused yesterday,” referring to BJP leaders walking out during the floor test on Saturday.
“They (BJP) seems to have decided not to contest any polls [to elect the Speaker] as they know their candidates will be defeated and, hence, [they] did not contest for the Speaker’s position,” political analyst Prakash Bal said.