An eight-term MLA from Maharajpur (Kanpur), Satish Mahana was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 18th Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday. On Monday, Mahana had filed his nomination papers and when no other nomination was filed, he was declared elected unopposed by the Returning Officer and Principal Secretary of UP Assembly Pradeep Kumar Dubey. Mahana was first elected to the UP assembly in 1991.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath congratulated the newly elected Speaker and appealed to the opposition parties seeking their positive contribution for the smooth conduct of the proceedings of the Assembly. “The Treasury bench and the Opposition are the two wheels of democracy, both of them will work together for the 25 crores people of UP. Together we will contribute to making the new Uttar Pradesh of New India. The ruling party and opposition will work together towards the progress of the state and will maintain the dignity of the House by strengthening democracy,” the Chief Minister said.
“The people abhor negativity and negative politics. Only through a positive approach can the glorious tradition and dignity of the House be maintained. The BJP and opposition parties have been firing salvos at each other during the election campaign, now that the polls are over, we should collectively work to meet the aspirations of the people and address their grievances,’’ said Yogi Adityanath. Without naming the West Bengal Assembly, where the ruling Trinamool Congress members unleashed violence against the opposition BJP, Yogi said, "People never like such incidents as they have always rejected negativity. People are against any kind of negativity. Rather, the public will only accept the ones with a positive mindset, who are progressive and ready to work for public welfare. Development is possible only with positivity and the trust of the public has to be fulfilled.”
In an obvious dig at caste-based identity politics and praising Satish Mahana, the Chief Minister said, "In a state where caste-based politics is ruling the roost, a person without caste has been elected from one Assembly seat continuously for eight terms and that is a huge achievement. One can win one or two elections but winning a seat for eight consecutive terms is commendable.”
Heaping praise on the newly elected Speaker, Yogi said, "You worked as Industries minister in the UP government and MoUs of over Rs 4 lakh cr were signed. Besides the development of Kanpur, you played an important role in development of UP.’’
Yogi Adityanath said out of 403 as many as 343 members took oath in a single day on Monday which reflects the positive side of democracy. He urged the MLAs to focus their attention on the downtrodden people, the youth, women, farmers, labourers, of the state and work for their uplift and welfare. "We, as members of this House, have the trust of the people, we can’t let this trust turn to distrust at any point,” said Yogi.
On his part, Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav also congratulated the new Speaker and extended greetings on behalf of his party. He supported the statement of Chief Minister Yogi Adtyanath and referred to Yogi as ‘Neta Sadan’ instead of addressing him by name. “You have been elected from the right side (Treasury benches) but now you have to look only at the other side (opposition) to protect the left. The right side (ruling party) has now released you. You are the referee of the House and you can never be part of the game as you have come from the right side. Speaker has a huge responsibility. Opposition will need your protection and support. You will have to protect the opposition to prevent the government from getting autocratic. There are very few who win from one constituency multiple times. Without a Speaker there can never be healthy democracy,’’ said Akhilesh.
In a veiled attack on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the SP chief said, "Some leaders do not like to visit foreign countries. Had I not visited foreign nations I would have never been able to build Expressways and Metro Rail in your city Kanpur. You come from a city where maximum withdrawals were made from saving bank accounts during the pandemic. I will speak in detail on this issue later during the debate in the House. Akhilesh also raised the issue of joblessness among youth reminding that a youth committed suicide as he was jobless. “There was an incident of loot at a petrol pump. It’s our collective responsibility to take the UP forward and address the grievances of the people,” he said. Leaders of Apna Dal, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Nishad Party, SBSP, Congress, Raghuraj Pratap Singh of Jansatta Dal and Uma Shankar Singh of Bahujan Samaj Party also congratulated Satish Mahana on his unanimous election as Speaker of UP Assembly.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna thanked the Leader of Opposition and other parties for the unanimous election of the Speaker and MLAs who proposed the name of Satish Mahana for the post. He said that the biggest challenge before the House was frequent disruption of proceedings.
“A healthy debate on every issue is the best solution for all issues of the people and its the responsibility of every member to prevent the atmosphere of the House from being vitiated. UP assembly has a glorious past and many achievements to its credit and it’s our duty to maintain that glory of the Augustus house,” Khanna said.
Speaker Satish Mahana thanked the Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition and leaders of all other parties for his unanimous election. Responding to Akhilesh Yadav, he said that it was good for health to keep doing both sides — left and right. “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the grievances of the people are addressed and for the development of the state,” Mahana said.
