In a bid to leave no stone unturned for the upcoming Assembly elections, the ruling BJP assigned two important posts of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly to Dalit and tribal candidates respectively. The newly-elected Speaker Ramanlal Vora is a Dalit candidate while the Deputy Speaker Shabhuji Thakor is from a tribal community.
The move came after the Vijay Rupani Government's Council of Ministers was formed, in which efforts were made to balance caste and regional equations. Even the party high command appointed Jitu Vaghani as the new Gujarat BJP president, who belongs not only to Saurashtra region but also hails from a powerful Patidar community.
While tribal population in the State is around 14 per cent Dalits cover a seven per cent lot here and combined together they share a 20 per cent lion's share in the votebank.
Knowing the fact that Chief Minister Rupani is from a Jain Bania community which holds less than one per cent Gujarat's population, maximum berth were given to OBCs and Patidars in the 25-member Council of Ministers. Rupani, with exceptional organisational skills, has also appointed 11 Parliamentary Secretaries keeping caste and regional equations in mind.
Vora was the sole candidate for the Speaker's post as the Opposition Congress supported his candidature. He has become the third Speaker of the 13th Gujarat Assembly constituted post the 2012 elections.
BJP MlA from Tharad in North Gujarat Parbat Patel acted as the Protem Speaker as the House commenced on Monday. Chief Minister Rupani moved the motion for election of Vora as Speaker and leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela supported it. However, the Congress wanted its candidate Chandrika Baraiya to be given the Deputy Speaker's post, but on the strength of majority in the House, BJP candidate Shabhuji Thakore was finally elected. With 121 MlAs in the House, the saffron party enjoys a thumping majority in 182-member Gujarat Assembly.