1st session of 15th Assam Assembly begins ** Governor’s address today
HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, May 21: As expected former Rajya Sabha member and MLA from Panery constituency, Biswajit Daimary was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 15th Assam Legislative Assembly in its first session which began on Friday.
The first session, which will continue for three days, was convened to administer oath to the MLAs.
Governor Jagdish Mukhi will deliver his speech to the newly elected legislators on Saturday.
Daimary was nominated as Speaker by the state BJP on Thursday. He submitted his nomination on Thursday in presence of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass.
The Congress-Grand Alliance had not nominated any candidate for the Speaker’s post.
With no other nomination, pro-tem Speaker Phani Bhushan Choudhury announced Daimary as the new Speaker and handed over the charge to him.
“I believe I will be able to give a strong and positive message from the House to the people of Assam. All the MLAs will be able to speak their mind here. I will give equal chances to everyone as per the rule,” Daimary said while thanking everyone.
Congratulating Daimary, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said many eminent personalities had become the Speaker and they added to the prestige and glory of the chair.
Other leaders like former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Congress Legislature Party Leader Debabrata Saikia, AIUDF Legislature Party leader Hafiz Bashir Ahmed, State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and AGP president Atul Bora too congratulated Daimary.
Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi said, “We are glad that an indigenous person from the Bodo community has become the Speaker. This is a matter of pride for all of us.”
In February, Daimary was re-elected to Rajya Sabha after switching sides to BJP from Bodoland People’s Front (BPF).
He contested the assembly polls from the Panery constituency and won by a margin of 35,852 votes.
The ruling BJP has nominated its MLA Numal Momin for the post of Deputy Speaker. He will submit his nomination when the secretariat will call for applications for the post.
Momin was elected to the assembly for the second consecutive time from the Bokajan seat.