A day ahead of the special session of the newly-elected house, senior BJP MLA Kalidas Kolambkar on Friday took oath as pro-tem speaker of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, reported news agency PTI.
The nine-time MLA was administered the oath of office by Governor CP Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai.
Kolambkar is the senior-most legislator in the new house and won from Mumbai`s Wadala seat in last month`s assembly elections.
As the pro-tem speaker, a temporary position, he will administer oaths to 288 newly-elected MLAs and conduct proceedings of the assembly.
Kolambkar will also preside over the election of a regular speaker during the three-day special session of the 15th state assembly beginning from December 7 in Mumbai.
The speaker`s election will be held on December 9 and it will be followed by a trust vote of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government which was sworn-in on December 5.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chairperson of the legislative council Neelam Gorhe and chief secretary Sujata Saunik were present at the brief oath-taking ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.
Scripting a powerful comeback, Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday evening took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister, while leaders of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, were sworn in as deputy chief ministers at a grand ceremony in south Mumbai`s sprawling Azad Maidan.
Immediately after the ceremony, the triumvirate drove together to Mantralaya, the state secretariat, also in south Mumbai, where Fadnavis, 54, chaired the maiden cabinet meeting of the new regime and also addressed a press conference.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union ministers and chief ministers of various states besides thousands of supporters of the Mahayuti alliance were present at the swearing in ceremony, held almost a fortnight after the results of the state assembly elections were declared on November 23.
Fadnavis, who has served as chief minister twice, led the BJP-Shiv Sena government from 2014 to 2019. After the 2019 elections, when the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena broke ties with the BJP over the CM post, Fadnavis was sworn in again with Ajit Pawar as his deputy.
However, that government lasted only 72 hours due to Pawar`s failure to secure sufficient support from NCP MLAs.
The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Mahayuti coalition won 230 out of the 288 assembly seats in the elections held on November 20.
The winter session of the state legislature will be held in Nagpur from December 16 to 21.
(With inputs from PTI)
