No one is afraid of speaker’s election, assures Ajit Pawar

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, on Friday, said no one is afraid of holding elections to the speaker ’s post, adding that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will win the poll with a comfortable majority. He was responding to Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis’ jibe that the government was afraid of facing the election and that this is the first government that is scared about its own legislators.

“No one is scared of the speaker ’s election. Whoever is running the government, they have to be ready to face any situation. If we were afraid of the election, then we would not have allowed

the resignation of Nana Patole as the assembly speaker. Patole had met me and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and later submitted his resignation. Congress party high command informed the party's decision. Thereafter, Patole told us that he is stepping down and later resigned,” said Pawar. Pawar, who is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) group leader of the legislative party, said that the MVA government has the support of 170 legislators and it is fully prepared for the poll. "Today, we have the support of about 170 members of the legislative assembly (MLA) and are prepared to face the legislature during the ensuing budget session. There is a clear majority,” he opined.