PORVORIM: Congress MLA, Mauvin Godinho who is firmly in the BJP’s camp was forced to cast his vote for the party’s candidate, Pandurang Madkaikar for the post of Deputy Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly on Thursday. His failure to vote for the Congress minister would result in him being disqualified. Hence, due to a legal tangle, he had to stand and vote for Madkaikar which brought the Congressman’s vote tally to 10.
In the end however, BJP’s Vishnu Surya Wagh from St Andre Constituency was elected the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly with 26 votes from the ruling side. The leader of the Opposition, Pratapsingh Rane, before the elections began urged the House to elect a deputy speaker from the opposition party. “There is a tradition to have the deputy speaker from the opposition. I would request the House to keep up the tradition for posterity so that our House always functions in a manner which is fit for any leading democracy,” Rane said.
However, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has opposed the request and said that the request could have been upheld if the opposition would have allowed the election of the speaker unanimously. “We do understand traditions in the democracy.. if this had to happen from the election of the speaker, then we would have thought about it. We should have unanimously elected a speaker. The speaker is already elected through polls,” Parsekar said.
The CM congratulated the newly elected Wagh and complimented him. Rane also congratulated Wagh and said that Vishnu is not only known in Goa but his identity is all over Maharashtra and Karnataka due to his literature and art. Wagh, while speaking Marathi in the Assembly said that his mouth is not going to remain shut over issues and wherever and whenever required, he will address issues. Wagh also congratulated his party, the MGP and GVP for electing him as the deputy speaker. He has also said that some of the members who voted for him have voted forcefully due to the restriction of the party.
