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Balayogi to be LS speaker again

The mild-mannered lawyer from Andhra Pradesh, Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi, is all set to be elected speaker of the Lok Sabha for a second term with the backing of both the ruling and the opposition parties.

Five sets of resolutions were filed today, including one proposed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and seconded by Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi.

The other sets were proposed by Home Minister L K Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The last date for filing resolutions is tomorrow and the resolutions received till then will be moved in the House on Friday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi said at a press briefing in New Delhi that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan had agreed to honour the healthy tradition of giving the post of deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha to the main opposition party.

Mahajan, he said, had conveyed that the candidate for the post of deputy speaker fielded by the Congress would be supported by the ruling coalition. P M Sayeed will be renominated as the Congress candidate for the deputy speakership, he added.

EARLIER INTERVIEW:
'If members are intent on digressing from real issues, I shall be tough'

UNI

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