Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, five-term legislator Suresh Warpudkar and two three-term MLAs Sangram Thopte and Amin Patel have emerged as frontrunners for the post of Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
If all goes well politically, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government would go in for Speaker’s election on June 6, the last day of the two-day session.
The post of Speaker has been necessitated following the resignation of Nana Patole, who has taken over as the state Congress President.
Because of its internal differences within the MVA and fierce attack from the opposition BJP in the wake of cases involving Anil Deshmukh and Sanjay Rathod – decided to go slow on it, during the brief Budget Session.
However, with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari reminding Thackeray again in the wake of a letter by Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis – the MVA leaders feel it is unavoidable.
Over the last few days, back to back meetings have been held among top leaders of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – including a meeting of Thackeray with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, the chief architect of MVA.
During the trust vote in December 2019, the MVA secured 169 votes.
The BJP has 105 MLAs and has the support of 10 to 12 others.
“The MVA would like to maintain that number and would not take any chances,” Congress sources said.
However, the main concern is that the NCP has to agree on the names of Chavan, a former Chief Minister and ex-Minister of State in the PMO or Thopte, a three-time MLA from Bhor.
Patel, an MLA from Mumbaidevi in Mumbai, could be a strong contender. Warpudkar is from the Parbhani district.
Check out DH latest videos: