After getting elected unopposed as the Speaker of the fourth Assembly, Dinesh Oraon pleaded support from both the Treasury as well as the Opposition bench in running the House smoothly. In his inaugural address after being elevated to the Chair on Wednesday the Sisai MlA also hoped that healthy precedence of fruitful debate would continue.
Starting his speech with poet Gulzar’s verse, Oraon also recalled the contributions made by his predecessors. “It is a pleasure indeed for me that you all gave such a high post to a simple person like me. I am also happy that I would be getting support from both the treasury and the opposition benches. I would try to meet the expectations from me and take guidance from the Speakers before me. I also hope that the Assembly would continue with the precedence of healthy debate,” said the Speaker.
Earlier, pro-tem Speaker Stephen Marandi informed about the proposals made for his elections from all the parties which included Chief Minister Raghubar Das and seconded by Minister louis Marandi. He then put the motion for the Voice Vote which got passed without a challenge. “Dinesh Oraon has been elected Speaker of this House unanimously. I now request the Chief Minister and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren to bring him to the Chair,” said the pro-tem Speaker. Five remaining MlAs — Anosh Ekka, Sadhu Charan Mahato, Dhullu Mahto, Chamra linda and Kushwaha Shivpujan Mehta—were also administered oath on Wednesday.
Flanked by the leader of the House Raghubar Das and Hemant Soren, who is most likely to be designated as the leader of the Opposition, Oraon walked up to the Chair. “It is a historic moment for all of us where both the Government and the Opposition unanimously adhered to the set parliamentary system and have elected you as Speaker. I thank all the members for this and hope that the House would run well to meet the expectations of the people,” said the Chief Minister.
Hemant Soren extending his gesture to the Speaker expressed hope that he would maintain prestige of the House by working in non-partisan manner. “I hope that you would extend equal importance to both the factions and deliver your duties without any prejudice and favour.” Parliamentary Affairs Minister CP Singh equated the Speaker’s role with sun. “Challenges would not be less before you. You will have to take all along and deliver at the same time. Your light should equally fall on everyone like sun,” said the former Speaker sharing some of his sore and sweet experiences on the occasion.
JVM’s Pardeep Yadav, AJSU’s Chandra Prakash Chaudhary, Congress’ Alamgir Alam, Minister louis Marandi, Bhanu Pratap Sahi, Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Arup Chatterjee, Radha Krishna Kishore, Anosh Ekka, Raj Kumar Yadav and Stephen Marandi also delivered their congratulatory speeches. Moreover, the Opposition despite backing Oraon’s candidature unanimously tried to drive home the point that the Government was living with a wafer thin majority in the House. “The Government has numbers but the margin is very narrow. They should have consulted the Opposition well in advance on Speaker’s nomination that would have made the tradition of unanimous election even stronger. It was the Opposition that has shown a bigger heart,” said JVM’s Pradeep Yadav.
later talking to reporters outside, Hemant Soren also backed the notion. “The nomination made by the Government could have been challenged. We have neck-to-neck like situation here but we adhered to the democratic norms and precedence,” he stressed and went on adding that his party later on may resort to no confidence motion citing issues like changes made in the land Acquisition Act by the Centre through an Ordinance. The BJP-led Government enjoys support of 42 members in the House of 81.