Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kalidas Kolambkar was on Tuesday appoint as the Protem Speaker of Maharashtra. "With the grace of God, I believe that everything will be okay. No name has been finalised till now. Yes, I take responsibility, if the party agrees to it. I can do the batting," News agency ANI quoted Kolambkar as saying. The newly appointed Pro-tem Speaker told ANI that the MLAs will be administered the oath on Wednesday when the session begins. Kolambkar took the oath as a Pro tem Speaker at 5.00 pm today at Raj Bhavan.
Eight-time Wadala MLA Kolambkar was one of the candidates recommended for the post to the governor. "The governor has administered oath to Kolambkar as pro-tem speaker of the assembly. Kolambkar will administer oath to remaining 287 MLAs during the assembly session," said an official from Raj Bhavan.
With the Supreme Court ordering a floor test tomorrow in Maharashtra, a major question that arose on Tuesday is-who will be made the Pro-Tem speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
Governor BS Koshiyari will appoint the Pro-Tem Speaker, who, in turn will have to administer the oath of office to all the newly-elected MLAs of the legislative assembly. However, it was followed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar resigning from their post.