Congress nominee to get Speaker's post, says Praful Patel

Praful Patel

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel on Saturday said that the post of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker will be filed by a nominee of the Congress party as per an agreement between the "Maha Vikas Aghadi" alliance. "The post of Speaker will be filed by a nominee of the congress party as per an agreement between the three parties [Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress]. There is no confusion. The Congress sent a few names to us this morning and we have no objection to it," Patel told the media persons.

Patel, however, refused to divulge names of the candidates proposed by the Congress. "It is Congress's prerogative to decide who will be the candidate. We are happy to accept any nominee proposed by the Congress party," the leader added. He evaded naming the person who will be the deputy chief minister and said, "The post will be filled up in due course".

Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as Maharashtra Chief Minister earlier this week following which deliberations over who will attain the post of Assembly Speaker and Deputy Chief Minister are underway. Thackeray's government of a newly formed alliance - "Maha Vikas Aghadi" enjoys the support of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress legislators. It is slated to face the trust vote in Maharashtra Assembly today.

The floor test proceedings will be conducted by pro-tem Speaker Dilip Walse Patil, who replaced BJP's Kalidas Kolambkar yesterday for a two-day special assembly session.

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