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Uttar Pradesh deputy speaker election: Backed by BJP, plain sailing likely for Nitin Agarwal
Stage set for direct contest for deputy speaker of Uttar Pradesh assembly, voting on Monday, Yogi says tradition being followed
The stage is set for a direct contest between the BJP government’s nominee Nitin Agarwal, technically a Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA, and the main opposition SP’s Narendra Verma for the election to the post of deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly here on Monday.
It is likely to be plain sailing for Agarwal, 40, in the election to the post of deputy speaker view of the BJP’s large majority (315 plus with allies and independents) in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly that has seven vacancies.
“We are going to have voting for election to the deputy speaker’s post after paying homage to former chief minister Kalyan Singh and others in the House at 11am. A decision in this regard was taken at the meeting of business advisory committee here on Sunday,” said UP legislative assembly speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit.
Nitin Agarwal was a minister of state in SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s government. He, along with his father Naresh Agarwal, joined the BJP in 2018. The SP’s petition seeking Nitin Agarwal’s disqualification was rejected recently and he, technically, continues to be an SP MLA even after joining the BJP.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath who, along with minister for parliamentary affairs Suresh Khanna, accompanied Nitin Agarwal for the filing of nomination papers, said traditionally the post of deputy speaker was reserved for the main opposition party. He said the BJP has followed the tradition and accepted the Samajwadi Party leader as the candidate for the post.
The BJP, by fielding Agarwal, wants to give a positive message to the Vaish community whose representative the then finance minister Rajesh Agarwal resigned amid indications that he was being dropped ahead of the Yogi ministry’s reshuffle on August 21, 2019.
Verma, 57, on the other hand, was accompanied by six BSP rebels and senior Samajwadi Party leaders, including leader of opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary. He said the deputy speaker’s post should go to the main opposition party. Agarwal was like a younger brother to him, but had joined the BJP, he added. Verma alleged the BJP government was violating all democratic norms. The Samajwadi Party has 49 MLAs in the House and hopes for cross-voting from the BJP and BSP camps too. The SP has obviously fielded Verma, a Kurmi leader, to give the message that the party is a well-wisher of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Chaudhary said the SP was working out a strategy and he would not like to share the same at this stage. He also said the deputy speaker’s post was given to the main opposition and if the government agreed to this the SP candidate would get elected unopposed.
“We are also getting ready for voting,” said Chaudhary.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Aradhna Mishra ‘Mona’ said the party would take a call on supporting a candidate after consulting the high command soon. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislature party leader Shah Alam aka Guddu Jamali was not available for comment.
The Apna Dal (Sonelal), a BJP ally, has also requested the BJP government to field a Dalit or an OBC leader for the deputy speaker’s post. Senior Apna Dal (S) leaders were, however, not available for comment on the issue.
“Yes, traditionally the post should have gone to a leader of the SP. The BJP is supporting Nitin Agarwal, who has left the Samajwadi Party and joined the BJP. This is politics being pursued ahead of the 2022 assembly election,” said Professor SK Dwivedi, former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University.
This is not for the first time that an election is being held for the post of deputy speaker in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.
There have been occasions when the state assembly voted to elect a deputy speaker in the past. On September 14, 1984, the late Hukum Singh, who was the minister for parliamentary affairs in the Congress government and later joined the BJP, was elected to the post securing 292 out of 319 votes polled. Two votes were declared invalid while the opposition candidate Riyasat Hussain got only 25 votes.
Senior Congress leader and the then chief minister late Narain Dutt Tiwari said in the House he was feeling sad to hear the accusations that the opposition was not consulted before the election. Tiwari said consultations were held on the issue 10 to 12 times. Tiwari said he was still ready for consultations in the next five minutes though he would like to ensure that the election was completed now.
“It is not proper that Uttar Pradesh assembly, an important House, does not have a deputy speaker. If you want, we are still ready for consultations,” he said.
The opposition, however, insisted that the government did not have any consultation with any leader of the opposition parties.
