Ashis Banerjee becomes Dy Speaker

Kolkata: Veteran MLA Ashis Banerjee has been elected the Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly uncontested.

Banerjee is an MLA for five consecutive terms from Rampurhat Assembly segment since 2001.

Congratulating the newly elected Deputy Speaker, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: "Ashis Banerjee has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of the House. I would like to express my gratitude to all for electing him as the Deputy Speaker. He is a veteran politician. He is respected and loved by all for his simplicity and down to earth behaviour".

Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay said: "With Ashis Banerjee becoming the Deputy Speaker, I have got a good colleague who can help me to run the Assembly smoothly. He is a good orator. Since Speaker and Deputy Speaker mainly listen to others, the newly elected members would miss listening to his speeches in the House."

His name was proposed by Nirmal Ghosh, Chief Whip of Trinamool Congress legislative party, and it has been seconded by MLAs, including Ashok Deb, Sujit Bose, Partha Bhowmick, Tapas Roy and Firdousi Begum. The Chief Minister and Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee accompanied the newly-elected Deputy Speaker to his stipulated seat.

Ashis Banerjee said that becoming Deputy Speaker of the Assembly is the biggest reward of his life.