Senior BJP leader and eight-time MP from Indore Sumitra Mahajan will be the next lok Sabha Speaker, but suspense remained on her deputy even as the name of AIADMK leader Thambidurai is doing the rounds for the post.
AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have helped both the parties travel some distance towards friendship.
The BJP requires AIADMK’s support in the Rajya Sabha for passing several key Bills. Thambidurai represents Karur lok Sabha constituency and was Deputy Speaker between 1985 and 1989.
According to sources, the Congress which is reduced to a historic low of 44 MPs in the lok Sabha still fancies itself in the role of main Opposition in the lower House. If it is granted the status of leader of Opposition in the House, the Congress may also give thumps up to the AIADMK’s nominee as Deputy Speaker. In case, AIADMK does not agree to the proposal, the BJP may be looking to make a BJD member Deputy Speaker.
Sumitra Mahajan’s was the lone name for the post of Speaker and it was proposed by 19 members cutting across party lines, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She would be formally elected as Speaker on Friday. Mahajan, 72, is to be the second woman Speaker, Meira Kumar being the first one.
Opposition leaders, including leader of the Congress in the lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Sudip Bandopadhyay (Trinamool Congress), B Mahtab (BJD), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), HD Deve Gowda (JDS), Supriya Sule (NCP), Mohammed Salip (CPI-M) and Jitendra eddy (TRS), were among the 19-proposers for Mahajan’s name.
Besides the Prime Minister, other BJP leaders who have given motions proposing her name include Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj.
The motion given by the Prime Minister was seconded by BJP veteran lK Advani, while that of Rajnath by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Santosh Gangwar. Swaraj’s motion was seconded by BJP leader Giriraj Singh.
The other proposers in the ruling NDA include Ram Vilas Paswan (lJP), Anant Geete (Shiv Sena), Thota Narsimham (TDP), and Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD).
Mahajan, lovingly called ‘Tai’, a Marathi term for elder sister, is known for her amicable nature and has her friends and admirers in all parties. Mahajan contested her first lok Sabha election in 1989. Mahajan, who was 46-year old then, defeated senior Congress leader Prakashchand Sethi by a margin over 1 lakh votes. Since then she did not lose a single lok Sabha poll, winning Indore seat for eight consecutive times.
Mahajan was a Union Minister of State for HRD under Murli Manohar Joshi during the NDA rule. In 2014 lok Sabha polls, she won Indore lok Sabha seat with a margin of 4.67 lakh votes.
In her long-career, Mahajan was seen as a leader with Chief Ministerial potential but could never make it as she, a soft-spoken person, perhaps was not able brazen it out in the State politics.