BJP MLA Girish Gautam elected as MP Assembly's speaker, CM Chouhan extends good wishes

Bharatiya Janata Party's MLA, Girish Gautam was elected as the speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on the first day of the state budget session on 22nd February, Monday.

Gautam, who is a four-term MLA from Deotalab constituency in Rewa district, had filed his nomination on Sunday for the speaker's post that was vacant since March last year after N.P Prajapati quit as the speaker as a result of the collapse of the then Congress-led government after many MLAs resigned from the party and gave up their Assembly membership.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan moved the proposal to elect Gautam, which was backed by Home Minister Narottam Mishra, Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang, Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel, and the Leader of Opposition Kamal Nath among others. Since the opposition party had decided not to field its candidates for the post, pro-tem speaker Rameshwar Sharma declared Gautam as the speaker of the assembly.

Sharma, who nearly served eight months as the pro-tem speaker, stated that he held the chair for such a long period keeping in mind the COVID-19 situation. 

Chief Minister Chouhan extends good wishes

Chief Minister Chouhan was among the first few to congratulate Gautam and highlight his role in the past years.

"Gautam is a leader who has been always rooted to the ground since the beginning. He fought against injustices faced by the poor and downtrodden," he said. 

He went on to extend his wishes by sharing a photo with the newly elected speaker on Twitter and putting forth the country his trust in him. 

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Promises unbiased proceedings 

Gautam, who was first elected as a legislator in 2003 retained his position in the election of 2008, 2013, and 2018. After being assigned this new role, he made it clear that now he neither belongs to the treasury nor the opposition and will conduct proceedings to the house in an unbiased way.

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