Senior BJP MLA and former Chhattisgarh Chief
Minister Raman Singh was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the State Legislative
Assembly. The first session of the newly-elected Assembly began in Raipur
today.
Raman Singh, 71, filed his nomination
for the Speaker’s post on Sunday. The BJP MLA said his new responsibility will
be to take everyone together in the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha.
The Congress, which ruled Chhattisgarh
for last five years, suffered a shock defeat in the Assembly polls held last
month at the hands of the BJP which bagged 54 out of 90 seats, restricting the
grand old party to 35 seats. The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) won one
segment.
As the Assembly session commenced on
Tuesday, pro-tem speaker Ramvichar Netam administered the oath to BJP and
Congress legislators and one MLA from the GGP as members of the legislative
assembly.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Leader of
Opposition Charan Das Mahant, Deputy Chief Ministers Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma,
former CMs Raman Singh and Bhupesh Baghel were among the legislators who were
administered oath by the pro-tem speaker.
After the swearing-in of legislators, CM
Sai moved a proposal for the election of Singh as the Speaker which was
seconded by Deputy Chief Minister Sao.
LoP Mahant also moved a proposal for the
election of Singh as the Speaker which was seconded by senior Congress leader
and former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
Three more proposals were moved by BJP
members in favour of Singh, the seven-term MLA who has won Rajnandgaon seat for
four consecutive times – in 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2023.
Singh was elected as the Lok Sabha
member once in 1999 and appointed as the Union Minister of State for Commerce
and Industries in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government.
In the recently concluded State Assembly
elections, Singh defeated Congress’ Girish Dewangan by a margin of 45,084
votes.
Singh, credited for transforming
Chhattisgarh from a ‘backward’ State to a model of development, has earned the
reputation of being an able administrator during his 15-year-long stint (2003
to 2018) as the Chief Minister.
PTI
