Congress, UPA allies to support Om Birla's candidature as Lok Sabha Speaker

NEW DELHI: The Congress and the UPA allies have decided to support the candidature of Om Birla as the Speaker of Lok Sabha, party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Tuesday but remained silent on the issue of deputy speaker.
Birla, a BJP MP from Kota-Bundi seat in Rajasthan, is all set to be elected unopposed on Wednesday when the motion seeking his election is moved in Lok Sabha.
Om Birla is a two-time BJP MP from Rajasthan.
A surprise pick, Birla's name, sources said, was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself for the post.The Rajasthan leader is considered to be close to both Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
Starting his political journey as a student leader, the 57-year-old leader has also been elected to Rajasthan assembly for three consecutive terms in 2003, 2008 and 2013.
Birla, who won his first Lok Sabha election in 2014 and was again elected this year from Rajasthan's Kota-Bundi seat. He defeated Congress's Ramnarayan Meena with a margin of over 2.5 lakh votes in the Kota-Bundi Lok Sabha seat in the recently concluded general elections.
A conscientious parliamentarian, Birla has registered a 86 per cent average attendance in the House, has asked 671 questions, participated in 163 debates and introduced six private member's bills during the 16th Lok Sabha.
For 12 years since 1991, Birla was a key leader in Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha as president at state level first and then the vice-president at the national level.