Hridaya Naryan Dikshit of the Bhartiya Janata Party will be formally elected as Speaker of UP Assembly on Thursdaythereby becoming the 22nd Speaker of the Assembly.
His election will be unanimous as all parties have proposed and seconded his nomination and his is the only nomination.
Dikshit filed his papers in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday before Returning Officer and Principal Secretary of Assembly Secretariat, Pradeep Kumar Dube. Seven set of nomination papers were filed.
The proposer of Hridya Naryan Dikshit included Suresh Khanna (BJP) Ram Govind Chaudhary (SP) Om Prakash Rajbhar (Suheldeo Bharat Samaj Party) lalji Verma (BSP) Aradhana Mishra (Congress) Rakesh Kumar Verma (BJP) and Raja Bhaiyya (Independent).
Dikshit made his political debut from Bhartiya Jan Sangh. He fell out with the party and contested the Assembly poll from Purwa segment of Unnao in 1985 and won as an Independent candidate. Known for his radical views against caste-based society, Dikshit is popular among Dalits and other backwards for his strident campaign against untouchability and caste-based inequality.
He contested the 1989 Assembly polls from Purwa segment and won. He won a third time from the same segment in 1993 as a Samajwadi Party candidate. The SP had contested this election in alliance with Bahuajn Samaj Party. The SP –BSP coalition formed the government.
In June 1995, Dikshit parted company with Samajwadi Party and joined Mayawati as the alliance with the BSP collapsed due to contradictions within the alliance. With outside support of the BJP, Mayawati took over as CM for the first time in June 1995 and Dikshit was inducted as minister for Panchyati Raj and Parliamentary Affairs. But this government lasted for less than five months and Presidents Rule was imposed in October 1995.
After a decade, Dikshit returned to the BJP fold and contested the 2002 and 2007 Assembly polls from Purwa segment as BJP candidate but lost.
In 2002, when Vinay Katiyaar was the state BJP chief, he was appointed as Chief spokesman of the party. In 2010, BJP nominated him for the legislative Council and he was the leader of the BJP in the Upper House briefly. His term at the Council ended in June last year.
later, he was again appointed as chief spokesman of the BJP last year. In 2017 Assembly poll, BJP fielded him from the Bhagwant Nagar assembly seat of Unnao and he won with a comfortable margin. Dikshit is a prolific writer and author and has written several books. He is also a journalist and writes regular columns in leading Hindi daily newspapers.