Fadnavis Oppn Leader In Maharashtra Assembly; Congress’ Nana Patole Elected Speaker

State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil announced the party's decision to take back the nomination of Kisan Kathore for the Assembly Speaker post after an all-party meeting in Mumbai this morning and before the end of the deadline of withdrawal of nomination ended at 10 am.

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Nana F. Patole was elected unopposed as the new Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly on Sunday, and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was named Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly. Patole, 57, who was earlier in the day elected unopposed as the speaker after BJP's Kisan Kathore withdrew from the fray, announced that Fadnavis is the new Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. Patole was elected after BJP withdrew its candidate Kisan Kathore from the contest for the prestigious post, a day after Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray led Maharasthra Vikas Aghadi won the vote of confidence in the Legislative Assembly. "It is poetic justice that those who wanted non- existence of the opposition will now have to work as an effective opposition," Patole said. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government passed the floor test in the state Assembly on Saturday. Altogether 169 MLAs voted in favour of the motion of confidence after the BJP, which has 105 MLAs, staged a walkout before the head count began in the 288-member House. State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil announced the party's decision to take back the nomination of Kisan Kathore for the Assembly Speaker post after an all-party meeting in Mumbai this morning and before the end of the deadline of withdrawal of nomination ended at 10 am. Barely an hour after the announcement, pro tem Speaker formally announced Patole's election as the Speaker in the House. Patole was the candidate of the ruling Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which won the vote of confidence in the assembly on Saturday afternoon with 169:000. Both Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis welcomed the new Speaker and escorted him to the Speaker's chair to take charge. Speaking soon the Speaker took charge, the Chief Minister spoke and said: "Nana Patole has also come from a farmer family and I know your behavior very well. You will be very confident and believes injustice, and I am sure you will give justice to everyone," he said. To this, several BJP members interrupted and asked him to address Patole as "Adhyaksh Mahoday" (Mr Speaker)'. To this Uddhav responded: "Since our relationship is different so it's new to me."

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray in assembly after Congress leader Nana Patole elected as Speaker: Nana Patole has also come from a farmer family & I am very confident that he will give justice to everyone. https://t.co/L0GalGQlxl pic.twitter.com/X7MlUSZpQb

— ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2019

Fadnavis while speaking in the assembly said that the Speaker should have been made a part of the state Cabinet with agriculture portfolio as he belongs to a farmer family. "Actually, we feel that you should have been in the cabinet and must have taken agriculture ministry and would have worked for the welfare of farmers as you belong to farmers background and you have led many issues of farmers," the BJP leader said. He said, "We had filed Kisan Khatore (for the Speaker post) but in all-party meeting they requested us (to bank the nomination). It has been a tradition that the post of the Speaker is appointed unopposed so we accepted the request and withdrew the name of our candidate."