Top NDA leaders meet to finalise LS Speaker, Deputy Speaker candidates

NEW DELHI: A meeting of Union Ministers and top NDA constituents was held on Tuesday at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence to discuss the names of candidates for the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker as well as the strategy for the upcoming Parliament session.

Among those who attended the meeting were Manohar Lal Khattar, Bhupender Yadav, Virendra Kumar, Piyush Goyal, Annapurna Devi, S Jaishankar, JD(U)’s Lalan Singh, and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan.

The election for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post will be held on June 26, two days after the beginning of the first session of the Lower House.

Meanwhile, a separate meeting of the Maharashtra BJP core group was also held at the party headquarters later in the evening to discuss the party’s strategy for the Assembly polls, due to be held in the state later this year.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, party state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ashish Shelar, MP Ashok Chavan, minister Girish Mahajan and other leaders attended the meeting, which was presided over by BJP chief JP Nadda.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh were also present at the meeting.