Gujarat to get its first woman speaker

GANDHINAGAR: Nima Acharya, the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Bhuj in Kutch district, is set to be Gujarat’s first woman speaker.
After the BJP formally nominated : Nima Acharya for the post of speaker of the legislative assembly on Friday, the Congress supported her nomination, paving the way for her being elected unopposed, when the assembly meets on September 27 for the two-day monsoon session.
The post of speaker fell vacant as Rajendra Trivedi quit earlier this month and was inducted into the new council of ministers.
Trivedi and BJP chief whip Pankaj Desai submitted the nominations of Acharya as speaker and Jetha Bharwad as deputy speaker. “The assembly secretary has checked and accepted the nomination papers of both Nimaben and Jetha Bharwad. Leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani also supported Nimaben’s nomination for the post,” Trivedi said on Friday.
The Congress, while supporting the nomination of Nima Acharya, opposed Bharwad’s nomination as deputy speaker.
“The BJP has broken the tradition of the opposition candidate being the deputy speaker,” Dhanani said, adding that the Congress will field a candidate for the post of deputy speaker.
With both BJP and Congress naming candidates for the post of deputy speaker, an election seems inevitable when the house meets on September 27 for the monsoon session.
The BJP enjoys a comforatble majority with 112 MLAs in the182-member house, while the Congress’ strength in the assembly is 65.
Acharya began political career with Congress
Nima Acharya won the Anjar assembly seat in the 2002 election on a Congress ticket, but later joined the BJP after her husband and six councillors of the Gandhidham municipality switched to the BJP from the Congress. A doctor, Acharya won the 2007 assembly election from Anjar constituency in 2007 on a BJP ticket. She has been representing the Bhuj assembly constituency as an MLA for the last two terms — 2012 and 2017 — on a BJP ticket.