The first-time MLA, in the past, has been associated with Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party before joining the BJP before the 2019 assembly elections. He was elected as the speaker, a year after the post was vacant after the resignation of Nana Patole who stepped down to become Maharashtra Congress president. Additionally, Rahul Narwekar has been elected speaker a day before the Eknath Shinde government faces floor test in the 288-member assembly.
Five things to know about Rahul Narwekar, Maharashtra's new speaker:
- The 45-year-old Rahul Narwekar is the son-in-law of senior NCP leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, who is also the Maharashtra legislative council chairperson and speaker. Narwekar is a sitting MLA from Colaba. He defeated the Congress candidate Ashok Jagtap in the 2019 assembly elections.
- Maharashtra's new speaker is a lawyer by profession, and he started his career with the Shiv Sena and rose to become the spokesperson of Yuva Sena, the youth wing headed by Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray.
- Interestingly, Narwekar had quit the Shiv Sena in 2014 ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and joined the Nationalist Congress Party, after which he joined the BJP before the 2019 assembly elections
- Narwekar contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Maval constituency as a NCP candidate and he lost to Shrirang Appa Barne of the Shiv Sena.
- During the session, Samajwadi Party (SP) abstained from voting against the BJP candidate. Both its MLAs Abu Azmi and Raees Shaikh kept sitting during the head count. Notably, AIMIM also abstained from voting against BJP's Narwekar. A total of three MLAs abstained from voting in the Assembly including AIMIM's Shah Farukh Anwar, SP's two MLAs while one AIMIM MLA was absent from the House.
(With inputs from agencies)
