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Journalism of Courage
Senior BJP MLA Biswabandhu Sen, who served as deputy speaker in the last assembly of Tripura, on Thursday filed his nomination as BJP’s candidate for the Speaker post. The election will be held tomorrow on the first day of the state assembly session after the new government was sworn in earlier this month.
The 69-year-old, who was with the Congress before jumping ship to the BJP in 2017, is a five-time MLA and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) College.
Speaking to reporters after filing his nomination papers, Sen thanked his party for nominating him as the Speaker and said he is confident of victory. The lone IPFT legislator Shuklacharan Noatia, who is also a minister in the current cabinet, was also seen with Biswabandhu Sen today.
Senior cabinet member Ratan Lal Nath said while the ruling party is confident of winning the Speaker election in the House, he appealed to Opposition TIPRA Motha, CPIM, and Congress legislators to withdraw their candidates and extend support to BJP’s candidate for smooth functioning in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, veteran Congress legislator Gopal Chandra Roy, who was earlier nominated as United opposition candidate for the Speaker position, also submitted his nomination today before Assembly secretary BP Karmakar.
Senior Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman said CPM MLA Jitendra Chaudhary and TIPRA Motha MLA Animesh Debbarma proposed Roy’s name.
Claiming that legislative courtesy was tarnished in the last five years under BJP’s watch, Roy Barman made an appeal to “BJP leaders with conscience” to vote for the opposition Speaker candidate and restore legislative dignity ahead.
After submitting his nomination, Roy said he is confident all legislators would vote in his favour for the sake of conducting business in the House based on legislative experience and ability.
