With the long-pending election to the Speaker post in the Maharashtra Assembly expected soon, senior Congressman from Pune district and three-time MLA Sangram Thopte has emerged the front runner.
The post has been lying vacant since last February after Nana Patole quit following his appointment as Maharashtra Congress president. After much procrastination since then, a delegation from the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition of the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had last week requested Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to hold the Speaker’s election on March 9 or any other date which the latter thought fit given that the budget session of the State legislature is currently under way.
According to Maharashtra Congress sources, while names like those of senior Congressman and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and present Tribal Affairs Minister K.C. Padavi, a seven-term MLA, were being floated, it is Mr. Thopte — a three-time MLA from Bhor in Pune district — who is likely to be given the post.
‘Staunch Cong. loyalists’
“Mr. Thopte’s election as Speaker will give a boost to the Congress’ fortunes in Pune district given that the Thopte family has been staunch party loyalists. It will enthuse the party rank and file in Pune given that the district and the city are dominated by either the Bharatiya Janata Party or the NCP with the Congress not having any significant representation in the MVA from Pune,” said Pune City Congress spokesperson Ramesh Iyer.
At the time of the formation of the MVA government in December 2019, the Congress did not give any Cabinet representation for Pune, while inducting only two of the 10 Congress Ministers from western Maharashtra who were sworn in as junior ministers.
Such was the resentment against the party top brass for failing to give Mr. Thopte a Cabinet berth despite his family being Congress loyalists for decades that an irate group of supporters later vandalised the party office in Pune’s Congress Bhavan.
Mr. Thopte is the son of veteran Congressman Anantrao Thopte, a prominent party leader in Pune district during the heyday of the party.
“Anantrao Thopte was elected MLA twice while Sangram Thopte has won the Bhor seat three times. Between them, father and a son have a total of 25 years’ experience as elected representatives. Sangram Thopte even withstood the so-called Modi wave in the 2014 Assembly elections to retain his seat. So, rewarding Sangram Thopte with the Speaker post would send a positive signal to Congress loyalists,” said Mr. Iyer.
