Mumbai: The Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Saturday nominated legislator Nana Patole as the candidate for Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly while the BJP named Kisan Kathore as its nominee.
Patole hails from the Kunabi region of the Vidarbha, Maharashtra, and is an elected Legislator from Sakoli. Patole’s nomination could be an attempt to maintain power balance in various regions as most of the Congress-NCP leaders hail from western Maharashtra.
The Speaker’s election will be held on Sunday, a day after the ruling alliance cleared the floor test. As many as 169 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly voted in favour of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, while the BJP’s 105 MLAs staged a walkout.
“Nana Patole will be our candidate for the Speaker’s election,” Congress leader Manikrao Thakre stated.
“They (the BJP) have the right in democracy (to field a candidate). But it has been a tradition in Maharashtra that Speaker is elected unopposed. We hope that tradition continues,” added the Congress leader.
Both Patole and Kathore are in their fourth term as MLA.
Patole, who was with the Congress earlier, quit the party and won 2014 Lok Sabha election on the BJP’s ticket. However, he quit the BJP following differences with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in December 2017, and returned to the Congress.
Kathore was elected as Thane zilla parishad president in 2002. He became MLA for the first time in 2004 on NCP ticket from Ambernath in Thane district.
He went on to win 2009, 2014 and 2019 Assembly elections from Murbad. He contested the 2014 and 2019 elections on BJP’s ticket.
NCP MLA Dilip Walse Patil was on Friday appointed as pro-tem Speaker. He replaced BJP MLA Kalidas Kolambkar who was earlier this week appointed to the post.
