Congress MLA steps in to preside

IN AN unusual development, the Bhiloda constituency congressional senior MLA, Anil Joshiyara, presided over the proceedings of the Gujarat Assembly for approximately two hours on Friday. Although Joshiyara is one of five members of the Panel of House Speakers to preside over the proceedings in the absence of Speaker Rajendra Trivedi, the development surprised many.
A senior Gujarat Assembly official said there are five members on the Spokesperson Panel: BJP MLA Neemaben Acharya, Purnesh Modi and Dushyant Patel and MLA Congress Anil Joshiyara and Rajendrasinh Parmar.

“Whenever the Speaker wants to leave the chair for some time, he can ask any person on the Panel to preside over the proceedings. Today, he asked Joshiyara the same. It is the prerogative of the Spokesperson, ”said the official.
When Joshiyara arrived and sat in the chair of the president, many of the members present in the House banged on the desk to welcome him.

When asked, Chief Whip of ruling BJP Pankaj Desai said that two of his members on the Speaker Panel, Modi and Patel, were not present due to health reasons related to his wife and son, respectively. While Acharya, Desai added, is unable to sit for a long time due to medical reasons.

Joshiyara said: “Since 1997, this was probably the first time that a Congressional MLA was asked to preside over House proceedings. I was surprised myself when the Speaker asked me to do the same. ”

Opposition leader Paresh Dhanani said: “I was in my chamber and was shocked when I saw Joshiyara in the seat of the TV Speaker. I couldn’t believe it and clicked on a screenshot on the television. I became an MLA for the first time in 2002. Since then, I have never seen a member of Congress in the Spokesman’s chair.”

“The healthy practice of having a ruling party chairman and an opposition party vice-chairman has not been practiced in Gujarat under the BJP rule for years. And thus, I was surprised to see Joshiyara in the Speaker chair. But I felt good about it, ”added Dhanani.