Congress' Nana Patole elected unopposed as Maharashtra speaker

Senior Congress leader Nana F Patole has been declared elected unopposed as the 14th Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, here on Sunday.

Protem Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil made the announcement that was greeted with applause and thumping of desks by both the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Opposition Maha Yuti alliances.

The development came soon after the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew its nominee, Kisan Kathore from the contest earlier today for the prestigious post, according to state party chief Chandrakant Patil.

Patole was the candidate of the ruling Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which won the vote of confidence in the assembly on Saturday afternoon with 169:000.

Soon after Patole's election was announced, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other leaders of MVA congratulated him and recalled his glowing contributions as a parliamentarian and legislator in Maharashtra for over two decades.

Others who spoke included Congress Legislature Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, Nationalist Congress Legislature Party Leader Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena's senior leader Eknath Shinde among many more.

The next major appointment pending is that of the critical post of Leader of Opposition, which is likely to be announced in due course.