Over a month-long Budget session of the Gujarat Assembly will start from Monday even as its Speaker Ganapat Vasava has been hospitalised after testing positive for HIN1.
In the absence of Vasava, the Assembly will hold election for the post of the Deputy Speaker on Tuesday and on the same day, Finance Minister Saurabh Patel will present first full-fledged Budget of the Anandiben Patel Government for the year 2015-16. Forms for the election are to be filed on Monday, said sources in the Assembly Secretariat.
After being diagnosed with swine flu, Vasava is undergoing treatment in a hospital in Surat. Sources in the BJP said that Anjar MlA Neemaben Acharya has been considered for the post of Deputy Speaker. As per the tradition, the post is generally given to the Opposition party and thus, the Congress MlAs have demanded that the post should be given to them.
“In many State Assemblies and even in the lok Sabha, there is a tradition that the Deputy Speaker belongs to the main Opposition party. Same was for Gujarat, but BJP discontinued it,” claimed the leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela adding that their demand is that the post should be given to the Congress party. “We would like a person from the Dalit community should grace the post,” he added.
Meanwhile, death toll due to swine flu in the State has almost touched 200 and number of HI1NI positive cases has climbed to 3,000. Apart from Vasava, IAS officer CV Som, Vice-Chancellor and registrar of the Gujarat University are some of the known people found contracted by swine flu. In absence of Vasava, the proceedings of the Assembly will be kickstarted by one of the members from the Speakers’ panel.
Chief Secretary DJ Pandian has made it mandatory for his staff as well as visitors to wear masks and wash their hands with sanitizers before seeing him. He has also deployed his staff outside his office to distribute masks and liquid sanitizers to about 50 to 60 people who call on him on an average per day.