Mumbai: The Maharashtra assembly is heading for a major showdown over the election of new Speaker of the House on Sunday. Such a face-off is taking place for the first time after a rebel legislator of Shiv Sena Eknath took over as chief minister on Thursday. The Shinde-led government has fielded Rahul Narwekar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance has pitted Rajan Salvi against Narwekar, sources said on Saturday.
The Congress, which laid claim to the post in the previous regime, has decided to back the Shiv Sena after holding discussions with the three allies including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Congress leader Balasheb Thorat said that the party would support Salvi and that they took the decision after holding talks with the alliance partners. On Friday, the Congress strongly objected to the Speaker’s election on the basis of a letter by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari stating it could not be held due to a case pending in the court.
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Congress leader Nana Patole was the last Speaker, who was elected late in 2019 after the MVA government headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray took over. Patole quit the post in February last year after being elected to the post of the state Congress president.
