Thambidurai of AIADMK unanimously elected Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker

AIADMK with 37 MPs is the third largest party in Lok Sabha after BJP and Congress, which have 279 and 44 members respectively.

The Speaker later sought to turn the tables on Kharge saying “agar man saaf ho to dil milne me kathinai nahi hoti (if our conscience is clear, there is no problem for our hearts to meet).”

She hailed Thambidurai for his intellect, wisdom and long parliamentary experience and said his election would definitely raise the prestige of the post.

“I am confident that his guidance will go a long way in smooth conduct of the proceedings of the House. ...I am sure that our joint efforts will be to maintain and strengthen the traditions of our parliamentary democracy,” Mahajan said.

The Prime Minister assured Thambidurai of full cooperation of the government and the treasury benches in running the House and said the unanimous election was in keeping with the highest traditions of the House.

Thambidurai thanked the AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and the Prime Minister for the responsibility reposed on him and said it would be his endeavour to be true to his task. He said he was “deeply overwhelmed” by the support from all sides to his candidature.

After the AIADMK leader was declared elected, Modi and Kharge walked up to Thambidurai, seated in the front row with TMC's Sudip Bandopadhyay, and escorted him to his new seat, amid thumping of desks. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Bandopadhyay also joined them.

B Mahtab (BJD) sought to draw similarity between the 8th Lok Sabha and the present one where Munnisamy Thambidurai got the opportunity to work as Deputy Speaker.

“Things change, yet they do not change. In 1985 (when Thambidurai was the Deputy Speaker for the first time), the ruling party had 400 plus members and the Deputy Speakership had gone to the second largest party in the Opposition, as has happened now,” he said.

Besides, he said in the House which has the ruling NDA having a strength of 336 members, the main opposition party was not claiming the post of Deputy Speaker.

Bandopadhyay remarked that his party leader Mamata Banerjee had said there was no question of any other name when Thambidurai's name was being proposed for Deputy Speakership.

He has also several other leaders thanked the Prime Minister for the good precedent of getting Speaker and Deputy Speaker elected unanimously.