Assembly Speaker’s post will stay with Congress: Sharad Pawar

The NCP president Sharad Pawar said Sunday the Speaker’s post in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly will remain with the Congress, thus putting to rest speculation over the coveted post.

“The three parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) have decided that the new Speaker will be from the Congress party only. We all will support whatever the party (Congress) decides about the Speaker (candidate),” Pawar told reporters in Baramati.

His remarks come a day after Shiv Sena MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said there was a growing sentiment among the ruling MVA constituents that the Speaker’s post should go to the Sena. Jadhav instead had offered the forest ministry to the Congress.

During the two-day monsoon session, Jadhav, who was appointed the speaker in chair on July 5, had suspended 12 BJP MLAs for one year for allegedly misbehaving with him.

Recently, Governor B S Koshyari had written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to take a call on filling the post of the Speaker. However, the election of Speaker was not held during the recently concluded Monsoon Session of the state legislature.

The post of the Assembly Speaker is with the Congress as a part of the power-sharing agreement between the ruling allies in the state. The post had fallen vacant after Congress MLA Nana Patole resigned in February this year to take over as the party’s Maharashtra unit president.

In a response to Jadhav, BJP state vice-president and member of legislative council Prasad Lad had earlier said the Sena would no longer need the forest department as there were “no tigers left in the party”. The forest department is vacant for more than four months after Sena’s Sanjay Rathod resigned from the post.