Hridya Naryan Dikshit was elected Speaker of the 17th Assembly unopposed on Thursday. His election was announced by Protem Speaker Fateh Bahadur Singh and later leader of the House and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary escorted Dikshit to the Speaker’s chair.

Welcoming Dikshit’s election as Speaker, the Chief Minister said, “It’s a moment of pride for all of us as Dikshitjee has been unanimously elected  with the support of legislators from every party and also Independent MlAs’’. 

lauding the new Speaker, Yogi said, “Dikshitjee had been a fighter all his life and also went to jail. We all will be graced by his long experience in public life and his deep knowledge of Indian culture, philosophy and the Constitution.’’

Yogi also expressed his gratitude to Opposition parties for honouring the democratic convention of unanimous election of the Speaker and termed the Opposition and Treasury benches are two pillars of democracy.

``let us make the Assembly a forum for debate, discussion and communication. We are all in public life and we all verbally attack each other during elections. But we should  work together for the welfare of 22 crore people of the state. We should work for the objective for which we have been elected by the people,’’ said Yogi Adityanath.

Seeking co-operation from Opposition parties, the Chief minister said, “In democratic polity, nobody should feel that he is being discriminated. We should all have one objective of serving the people. The Opposition should also cooperate for addressing problems of the people as we want to make UP, the number one state of the country.’’  

This was the first speech by Yogi Adityanath in the Assembly after taking over as C1hief Minister on March 19.

Assuring Opposition parties of co-operation from government,  Yogi said, ``I want to assure you that the government would do its best for strengthening democratic conventions but we also want cooperation from Opposition parties.’’

later thanking leaders of all parties, Speaker Hriday Narain Dikshit said, “Being a first-time MlA, does not imply that the person is new to politics. The person could have been active in public life and working for the people and later elected to the Assembly.’’

``Democracy runs on the pillars of debate and dialogue. I am blessed that the entire Opposition proposed my name for the office of the Speaker,” he said.

On the British origin of the Indian Constitution and political and administrative system, the Speaker said, “This country cannot be run on European traditions. We have to make it suitable for our needs and we need to modernize our ancient traditions.’’