Mahana elected as UP Assembly Speaker unopposed

Lucknow, March 29 : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana was elected unopposed as the Speaker of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The result was declared by the Pro-tem speaker Ramapati Shastri. As per the tradition Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Leader of the Opposition Akhilesh Yadav, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak, Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ and leaders of other political parties took Mahana to the seat of the Speaker. Mahana has been elected from Kanpur Nagar seat for the eighth consecutive term. The Chief Minister, while congratulating the Speaker, Yogi thanked all the political parties and MLAs for electing Mahana unanimously. He said, “There are two wheels of democracy, the ruling side and the opposition, can give new heights to the works related to overall development of 25 crore people of the state and can contribute in making UP a new India.” Yogi said that everyone has witnessed the rounds of allegations and counter and speeches till the first week of March. “But there is one thing that people never accept negativity. There is no place for negativity in its heart. People accept only those who are positive, progressive and work for the welfare of the society,” he said, adding that the society and the country has never given importance to negativity. The Chief Minister said, “Negativity can never progress in life. Only with a sense of positivity we can pave the way for public welfare. Today when the aspirations of the country are from a state like UP and in every sector then the state has to prepare itself on proving true on those aspirations.” He said that in a democratic system, where the ruling party and the opposition tedly become part of the campaign, then 1 and 1 does not become 2, but it turns into 11 and becomes a reckoning force. “It not only strengthens the democratic system, but it also takes it forward firmly. It becomes a means of fulfilling public aspirations for which the people have put their trust in all the public representatives,” he added. He said the goal should be that this trust should not turn into mistrust. “I am witnessing it from yesterday when the MLAs took oath with a sense of positivity. Now elections are over and we have to think about the development, upliftment of UP, in the interest of 25 crore people, youths, women, farmers, labourers and the oppressed class,” he added. Yogi said that Legislative Assemblies in the country closely observe what is happening in the UP assembly. “The issues raised and debates in the UP assembly during previous terms echoed not only in various states of the country, but even in the streets in the villages in the state that serious debate was done on this issue in the UP Assembly and this is a very positive sign,” he said. “When the public sees its legislative institution with trust, then we consider that it is the best medium of reflecting the public faith. Public trust towards democratic can give maximum strength to democracy and we have to make this house a base of that confidence,” he added. The CM said that Mahana has been elected as the Speaker at the time when the country is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsava. “The Prime Minister has set a few goals for the next 25 years for this ‘Amrit Kaal’ and UP has to play a leading role,” he said. Speaking on the occasion, Leader of the Opposition Akhilesh Yadav said that being the Speaker is a challenging task. He said, “As the Speaker you have a great responsibility of giving protection to the opposition during house proceedings. You have come from the right side (treasury bench), but you will have to pay attention on the left side (opposition bench). “Be a referee and don’t become a part of the game because you have come to the right side. The more protection you will give to the opposition, the stronger democracy will become. You will have to see that a unanimously elected government does not become a dictator,” he added Referring to foreign visits done by Mahana, Akhilesh said, “A few sitting on the right side do not want to visit foreign countries, but I will tell you that there are some benefits of it as well. People are talking about the express-way, if I have not been to the foreign countries then the country’s best express-way would have not been constructed, we would have not been able to give a metro to your Kanpur and the building in which the CM is having his office would have not come up.” He said that as a whole, it is the responsibility of all to take UP on the path of prosperity and progress. CLP leader Aradhana Mishra Mona, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Rajpal Balyan, Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) Raghuraj Pratap Singh ‘Raja Bhaiyya’ and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member Uma Shankar Singh also expressed their views on the occasion. In the end, newly-elected Speaker Satish Mahana expressed his gratitude towards leaders of all political parties for electing him for the post unanimously. AB RJ