Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kalidas Kolambkar is set to be Protem Speaker of Maharashtra. He will shortly take oath at the Raj Bhawan here.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kalidas Kolambkar was on Tuesday appoint as the Protem Speaker of Maharashtra. “With the grace of God, I believe that everything will be okay. No name has been finalised till now. Yes, I take responsibility, if the party agrees to it. I can do the batting,” News agency ANI quoted Kolambkar as saying. The newly appointed Pro-tem Speaker told ANI that the MLAs will be administered the oath on Wednesday when the session begins. Kolambkar took the oath as a Pro tem Speaker at 5.00 pm today at Raj Bhavan. 

Eight-time Wadala MLA Kolambkar was one of the candidates recommended for the post to the governor. “The governor has administered oath to Kolambkar as pro-tem speaker of the assembly. Kolambkar will administer oath to remaining 287 MLAs during the assembly session,” said an official from Raj Bhavan.

With the Supreme Court ordering a floor test tomorrow in Maharashtra, a major question that arose on Tuesday is-who will be made the Pro-Tem speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 

Governor BS Koshiyari will appoint the Pro-Tem Speaker, who, in turn will have to administer the oath of office to all the newly-elected MLAs of the legislative assembly. However, it was followed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar resigning from their post.