BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan will be the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha with senior leaders from all parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, moving motions on Thursday proposing her name for the high office.
Ms. Mahajan’s was the only name that was proposed as the time for filing nomination for the post came to a close at noon on Thursday. The formal election will take place on Friday.
Opposition leaders, including the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, M. Thambidurai (AIADMK), Sudip Bandopadhyay (Trinamool Congress), B. Mahtab (BJD), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), H.D. Deve Gowda (JD(S)), Supriya Sule (NCP), Mohammed Salip (CPI(M)) and Jitendra Reddy (TRS) are among the 19-proposers for Ms. Mahajan’s name.
The 72-year-old Ms. Mahajan is an eight-term Lok Sabha member from Indore and has worked for long in the panel of Chairperson of the House.
Besides the Prime Minister, other BJP leaders who have given motions proposing her name include Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj.
The other proposers from the ruling NDA include Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP), Anant Geete (Shiv Sena), Thota Narsimham (TDP) and Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD).
Ms. Mahajan, lovingly called ‘Tai’, is known for her amicable nature and has her friends and admirers in all parties.
The name Mr. Thambidurai, AIADMK’s parliamentary party leader, is doing the rounds for the post of Deputy Speaker since the party general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had a lengthy meeting with Mr. Modi on June 3.
Mr. Thambidurai was Deputy Speaker between 1985 and 1989.
With the BJP-led NDA not having majority in the Rajya Sabha, it wants support from other parties and for this purpose, the AIADMK, which has 10 members in the Upper House, is apparently being wooed. However, there has been no formal word either from the BJP or the AIADMK on the issue.
In the 245-member Rajya Sabha, the BJP has just 42 members and its allies 13 (Shiv Sena 3, Shirmomani Akali Dal 3, TDP 6 and RPI(A) 1).
