Congress leader and “Maha Vikas Aghadi” (MVA) nominee Nana Patole was on Sunday elected unopposed as the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, after the BJP withdrew its candidate Kisan Kathore from the poll fray.
The BJP’s decision to pull out of the Speaker’s election came an hour ahead of the Speaker’s election, after the MVA leaders met former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and requested him follow the tradition — of not having an election for the post of Speaker — established in the House and withdraw his party’s candidate from the fray.
Announcing his party’s decision to withdraw its candidate from the Speaker’s election, BJP leader Chandrakant Patil said: “At the meeting held between the MVA leaders and Fadnavis this morning, both the ruling front and BJP agreed that the Speaker’s position is a neutral one and it should not mired in a controversy by seeking an election for the post. The two decided to continue with our good tradition of avoiding elections to the Speaker’s post that the Maharashtra Assembly has been following over the decades.
Hence, we have decided to withdraw our candidate Kisan Kathore’s nomination from the Speaker’s poll fray”. When the House met at 11 am, Protem Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil announced that after the withdrawal of the BJP’s from the fray, Patole had been elected unopposed as the Speaker of the State
Assembly.
Congratulating Patole on his unanimous election as the Assembly Speaker, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said he was happy that a person from a farmer’s family had become the Speaker of the House. He expressed confidence that Patole would conduct himself in an impartial and efficient manner as the the Speaker.
“We know about the rebellious streak in you and we also know that you would tolerate injustice of any kind. It is good that we have got a Speaker who does not mince words when it comes to expressing himself. You have all along worked for seeking justice to farmers, artists and aged people. We know that you will take along with you both the ruling front and the Opposition. We expect you not do injustice to anyone. Please feel free to pull us up if we err in our conduct in the House,” Uddhav said.
While congratulating Patole on his election as the Speaker, Fadnavis said: “We as the Opposition depend on the Speaker. He is a pillar of support for us in the House. I request the Speaker to lend his ears more to the Opposition sitting on his left side and less to the ruling alliance members sitting onto his right”.
“We have withdrawn the candidature of Kisan Kathore from the Speaker’s election fray. I am happy that Patole is being elected unanimously as the Speaker. I have known Patole for a long time. You have good knowledge of strengths and limitations of members on both sides. I am confident that this knowledge will come in handy in running the House effectively,” Fadnavis said.
“Whenever we raise issues of public importance, we expect your cooperation. We will continue to raise issues relating to farmers till justice is done. We expect you to be generous towards us,” the former Chief Minister said.
Calling for order in the House at all times, NCP minister Jayant Patil took a dig at the BJP members by reminding them about the lavish praise that Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaped on the NCP MPs in Rajya Sabha for not rushing to the well of the House and conducting themselves in a most disciplined manner. “Modi expects the same behaviour from the BJP members in the Assembly,” Patil said.
Other MVA and Opposition leaders, including Congress minister Balasahen Thorat and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan, congratulated Patole on his election as the Speaker of the House.
Patole is an MLA from Sakoli Assembly segment in Vidarbha region. He had earlier elected to the State Assembly for three terms between 1999 and 2014. He was elected to Lok Sabha in the 2014 polls from Bhandara-Gondiya constituency on a BJP ticket.
It may be recalled that Patole had created a major stir in the political circles in the last week of August 2017 by saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not like party men asking him questions making no bones about his unhappiness about the State of affairs in the ruling BJP.
Patole had said on August 31, 2017: “Modi doesn’t like to take any questions. He had got very angry when I raised some issues about the OBC Ministry and farmer suicides at a meeting of BJP MPs. When Modi is asked questions, he asks you if you have read the party manifesto and are aware of various Government schemes”.
Patole had resigned from the Lok Sabha and BJP. Subsequently, he joined the Congress in December 2017. Patole had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls against senior BJP leader from Nagpur Nitin Gadkari.