BHOPAL: BJP heavyweights and veterans are now eyeing the twin posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, after being ignored in the expansion of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Cabinet in July.
The election to the twin posts will be held next month during the three day session starting September 21.
Ex-minister and four-time legislator Rajendra Shukla, three-time MLA Girish Gautam, ex-minister and three-time MLA Nagendra Singh, five-time MLA and former MP Nagendra Singh Nagod, and three-time MLAs Kedar Nath Shukla and Ramlalu Vaishya are among the front runners from Vindhya region.
The other names doing the round include ex-minister Ajay Vishnoi, former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Sitasaran Sharma, and three-time MLAs Yashpal Singh Sisodiya and Pradeep Lariya.
According to BJP insiders, though both Speaker and Deputy Speaker were earlier elected unanimously, but the tradition was broken in 2019 when then opposition BJP had pressed for elections for both posts, which resulted in the then ruling Congress nominees cornering both the posts.
If the same pattern is repeated during the Vidhan Sabha session next month, then the BJP with 107 MLAs of its own and six allied MLAs will see its nominees being elected to the twin posts in the present 203-member Assembly.