New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s tribal leader from Jharkhand, Karia Munda, has been named for the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha.
The BJP's Central Parliamentary Board held a meeting on Tuesday after the Government's proposal that as per the convention the Deputy Speaker's post goes to the Opposition party.
“The Parliamentary Board decided to name six-time party MP in the Lok Sabha Karia Munda as the candidate for the post,” BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley told reporters.
Munda, 72, was a minister in the Morarji Desai government and later in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry. He has been an MLA in Bihar and Jharkhand.
When asked whether Munda's candidature was done with the aim of winning tribal support for the party, Jaitley said, “It is true that Munda belongs to the ST community, but along with that he has a vast legislative experience and this decision was made considering his seniority.”
With Congress nominating its Dalit face Meira Kumar for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker, BJP was expected to field a tribal or an OBC for the post of Deputy Speaker.
Sources from BJP also said that Sripad Naik, an OBC from North Goa, was another name being considered by the party for the post.
The party was earlier planning to field veteran BJP leader and MP from Indore Sumitra Mahajan but gave up the idea when Congress nominated Meira.
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